Charlie, the fintech company on a mission to help older Americans get the most out of their money and keep it safe, announced the launch of SpeedBump, a proprietary combination of pauses, alerts, and real-time education introduced at the exact moments customers are most vulnerable to fraud.
Research shows that when people are aware of a specific scam, they are 80% less likely to engage with it, and if they do engage, they are 40% less likely to lose money or sensitive information. As financial fraud plagues older Americans, with over $28 billion stolen from them each year, SpeedBump ensures customers are maximally aware of the latest information about fraud, so they are empowered to protect their money during the moments they are most at risk. SpeedBump is a major step forward in protecting older Americans from rampant financial abuse.
“The proliferation of AI has created a new frontier of fraud, where criminals can impersonate financial institutions, businesses, and even victims’ loved ones via email, text, and voice with just a few clicks of a button,” said Kevin Nazemi, co-founder and CEO of Charlie. “AI has unleashed a disturbing new wave of financial fraud and scams on this population, leaving them more vulnerable than ever. With billions stolen from older Americans every year and fraudsters becoming more sophisticated, we believe it is our responsibility to build impactful technology to empower our customers to get the most out of their money and keep it safe. SpeedBump is the next frontier in helping older Americans protect themselves in this growing war.”
How SpeedBump Works
SpeedBump activates when the following actions take place due to the acute risk they present:
- Payees: A Charlie customer adds a new payee. Fraud can occur when a criminal puts pressure on a victim to quickly add them as a payee to their account to send money, or an unauthorized person with access to an account adds a new payee, oftentimes themselves, to move money out.
- Transactions: Transfers over $100 from their Charlie account. This covers a wide variety of fraud, including caretaker or family fraud, where a payee is established but the account holder does not approve of the transfer, among much else.
- Devices: They log into their Charlie account from an unknown device or a device they have not used in the past 30 days. This covers hackers using a remote device to break into an account or a caretaker or service provider accessing multiple devices they may have access to.
Whenever one of these actions is taken, SpeedBump activates to empower the customer to determine if they are in the midst of financial fraud, and if so, take immediate action to stop it. SpeedBump consists of the following:
- The Pause: When a new payee or device is added, a six-hour pause is immediately implemented before any money can be released. Money movement over $100 to established payees gets a one-hour speedbump. If the customer takes no action, the money leaves their account at the conclusion of the pause with no further action required. However, if the activity is fraudulent or suspicious, the customer has the option to stop it.
- How it stops fraud: Once money leaves a bank account, it becomes much harder, if not impossible, to recover it. The pause gives the customer crucial time to either cancel the transaction themselves in the Charlie app or to seek help from Charlie customer support.
- Example: Imposter scams – A fraudster posing as the Social Security Administration contacts a customer to inform them that their system crashed and that they need the customer’s login credentials to their Charlie account to confirm their Social Security is being deposited to their Charlie account. The fraudster gains access to the customer’s account and moves money out of their Charlie account to the fraudster’s account. The pause gives the customer time to stop the transaction.
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