TD Bank is educating consumers and frontline employees as attacks by scammers rise across the financial services industry, Julie Packard, head of strategic enablement, financial crimes prevention and operations at TD Bank, said during a March 25 Experian webinar on account takeover and scams. 

“When you think about scams … the customers are the ones that are getting targeted,” she said. “In many ways, [education] can be a core layer of defense to help support your fraud impacts and the abuse that’s happening amongst the customers.” 

The financier, Packard said, is looking to mitigate the impacts of fraud and scams externally with efforts such as embedding warnings “across transaction types.” 

“Bad actors aren’t just going to target a debit card or credit card. They could go after any product that you offer,” she said.  

TD also is sending notifications to consumers that make it clear how the bank will interact with customers, what they should expect and how to safeguard their information, Packard said. 

Internally, TD is training staff on how to recognize red flag warnings and work with a consumer who has been a victim of a scam, Packard said. 

“In many cases, your frontline staff [is] your first point of contact.” — Julie Packard, TD Bank

“In many cases, your frontline staff [is] your first point of contact that could be helping to either capture the red flags or to confirm with the customer before they take further action,” she said. 

AI boosts scams 

The financial services industry is facing a rise in AI-driven scams impacting a range of consumers, Packard said. Fraudsters, she said, are “getting more sophisticated in their way that they approach some of these victims.” 

Prior to the widespread use of AI and the other technology fraudsters now use to scam consumers, it was easier to spot a potential fraud attempt due to odd language or grammar mistakes, Packard said. 

“Now you’re seeing [fraudsters] are very sophisticated; they look like they’re coming from an institution or from that brand, and it makes it that much harder for the consumers to identify,” she said.  

$15.9B reported losses 

In fact, there has been a “significant uptick” in fraudulent account takeovers driven by scammers and fueled by AI, Nash Ali, vice president of strategy at Experian, said during the webinar.  

The FTC estimates that consumer losses tied to fraud totaled $15.9 billion in 2025 based on 3 million fraud reports, up 27.2% from $12.5 billion in 2024, according to a report published March 25. By comparison, fraud losses were reported at $10 billion in 2023 and $8.8 billion in 2022, according to FTC data. 

FTC reported consumer losses tied to fraud

“Only 15% of scams in the U.S. are reported by consumers,” Ali said. “When you do that math, 85% of scams being unreported, we start to realize that the actual magnitude of scam losses in the U.S. in that period is north of $80 billion.” 

Some of the most common scams in the past 18 months include imposter scams in which fraudsters impersonate a trusted entity or person to trick victims, scams against investors, phishing and spoofing attacks, Ali said.  

“All of these are fueled by AI, so they are much more effective than they used to be,” he said. “Much of this is coming from the fact that it’s simple to clone a website today. It can be done in a matter of seconds.” 

In fact, AI makes it easier for scammers to create fake auto and equipment dealership websites designed to trick consumers into sending money, according to risk management software Point Predictive. 

SCAM Act 

Fraudulent online advertisements also could trick consumers into providing information to scammers on a site they think is legitimate, TD’s Packard said.  

In response to growing fraud, the Safeguarding Consumers from Advertising Misconduct (SCAM) Act was introduced by the House of Representatives on Feb. 12 to prohibit online platforms from displaying fraudulent or deceptive advertisements. In the bill, the FTC estimated that in 2024, loss from fraud totaled $195.9 billion when adjusted to account for unreported losses. 

The SCAM Act is “looking to ban scam ads [and] adding some verification steps that you’ve got to do like ID checks before you’re able to publish content,” Packard said, noting that there will be “some enforcement actions if it is found to be fraudulent.” 

Editor’s note: This story first appeared on Auto Finance News, a sister publication of FinAi News. 

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