California credit union leaders came together this week during an exclusive virtual meeting with agents from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Sacramento Field Office to address the increasing threat of financial fraud, receiving a detailed briefing on the year’s most damaging cybercrime trends and new defensive strategies.
Organized for credit unions across the FBI Sacramento service area, including Bakersfield and Fresno, the session was a forum for law enforcement to share intelligence on emerging schemes — and for credit unions to provide input from the front lines.
The event’s theme was the scale of financial crime reported through the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). While the IC3 has processed over 4.8 million complaints since its inception in 2000 —averaging 758,000 complaints annually over the last five years — the most concerning trend is the financial impact of sophisticated schemes.
The FBI highlighted that Business Email Compromise (BEC) continues to be one of the costliest crimes, ranking as the second-highest source of financial loss reported in 2024. BEC complaints in 2024 logged adjusted losses exceeding $2.7 billion. Agents detailed common BEC schemes, including:
Investment scams, particularly those involving cryptocurrency, were also spotlighted. The FBI addressed “Operation Level Up,” an initiative launched in January 2024 aimed at identifying and notifying victims of Cryptocurrency Investment Fraud, commonly known as “pig butchering.” This confidence-based scam involves criminals building long-term personal relationships with victims before coercing them into fraudulent, highly profitable-looking cryptocurrency investment platforms.
The FBI’s proactive measures, particularly the IC3 Recovery Asset Team (RAT), was also highlighted. Established in February 2018, RAT is designed to streamline communication with financial institutions and assist FBI field offices with the rapid freezing of funds transferred to domestic accounts under fraudulent pretenses — a process integral to the financial fraud kill chain.
The stated goals of the RAT-Financial Institution Partnership are:
Agents also noted international collaboration success, specifically detailing efforts with law enforcement in India since 2022 to combat cyber-enabled financial crimes and transnational call center fraud through raids and arrests.
The briefing covered several other pressing fraud trends seen across the Sacramento field office’s jurisdiction and nationally:
Additionally, the FBI provided red flags to help credit unions identify and disrupt Money Mule activity. Money mules are individuals who are knowingly or unknowingly recruited to facilitate the laundering of stolen funds. Warning signs include:
The event concluded with an open discussion, emphasizing the FBI’s commitment to using shared insights from credit unions to shape its understanding and support in combating evolving threats. Credit unions were reminded to submit all fraud complaints to IC3.gov and to communicate fraud challenges directly to the FBI liaison.
Materials from the event for credit unions:
Building on the success of this week’s session, additional meetings with the FBI Sacramento Field Office are already being planned for 2026. California’s Credit Unions also anticipates coordinating similar briefings with other FBI field offices in regions where credit unions have specific operational or emerging-risk needs.
More details and scheduling information will be shared in the coming months — stay tuned. Please email Lisa Quaranta, vice president of regulatory advocacy, with any questions.
