Fraud is no longer a side threat for financial institutions-it’s a central operational risk. According to the 2025 LexisNexis® True Cost of Fraud™ Study, the average U.S. financial services company now loses $5.75 for every $1 of fraud when accounting for direct losses, regulatory responses, internal investigations, customer churn, and brand damage. For credit unions, this multiplier represents a growing burden that eats into already thin margins.

The Expanding Fraud Battlefield

Fraudsters are exploiting every corner of the customer journey. Nearly half of losses stem from third-party fraud such as account takeover and identity theft, while first-party fraud and synthetic identity schemes make up the rest.

The study highlights:

• Mobile as the primary fraud channel – 37% of losses occur through mobile apps and browsers.
  
• Rising scams and malicious bots – scams now account for 36% of fraud losses, while bots make up nearly 30% of all transactions financial institutions must handle.
  
• Widespread impact – two-thirds of institutions report fraud affects at least four business areas, from compliance to customer trust.
  

Simply put, fraud is coming from everywhere, all the time. And most institutions are underprepared.

The Automation Gap

One of the most striking findings: only 1 in 5 financial institutions primarily rely on automated fraud strategies. The rest still lean heavily on manual processes or fragmented tools-an approach that is too slow and too narrow to counter today’s fast-moving attacks.

Institutions that embrace automation report significantly better outcomes: fewer fraudulent transactions, reduced customer churn, and improved fraud-fighting effectiveness.

The conclusion is clear-real-time, AI-powered fraud prevention is no longer optional. It’s the only way to keep pace.

How RembrandtAi® Solves the Problem

This is exactly where Toolcase’s RembrandtAi® changes the equation. Unlike legacy fraud detection systems that work in batch or with delayed alerts, RembrandtAi® delivers real-time risk assessment and instant fraud alerting at the moment of transaction.

• Continuous learning models adapt instantly as fraudsters change tactics.
  
• Federated data intelligence strengthens decisioning by connecting behavioral, device, and transactional signals.
  
• Real-time intervention reduces fraud losses before they cascade into regulatory costs, churn, and reputational damage.
  
• Seamless compliance alignment helps credit unions and banks meet evolving requirements such as FedNow while reducing internal workloads.
  

By replacing fragmented, reactive fraud management with proactive AI defense, RembrandtAi® allows financial institutions to stop fraud at the point of attack-before it multiplies into hidden costs.

Building the Future of Fraud Defense

The LexisNexis study closes with a call for holistic, technology-driven strategies: smarter identity verification, layered defenses across the customer journey, and adaptive authentication to balance security with customer experience.

RembrandtAi® embodies this vision today. It enables financial institutions-whether a local credit union or a national bank-to transform fraud from an escalating cost center into a managed, controlled risk.

Fraud will always evolve. The question is whether your defenses evolve faster.