The Little Hoover Commission (LHC) recently held two public hearings on financial scams and fraud, a familiar topic for credit unions. In advance of the hearings, California’s Credit Unions engaged with LHC staff to convey its perspective and subsequently provided written testimony.

The first hearing on September 25, “Addressing Financial Scams and Fraud in California,” opened with remarks by Senator Tim Grayson, chair of the Senate Banking Committee.

Topics Covered

Topics covered included:

Introduction to Financial Scams and Fraud

• Ken Westbrook, Founder and CEO, Stop Scams Alliance (written testimony here).
• Erin West, Founder and President, Operation Shamrock.

Perspectives from Financial Scam Victims

Fighting Financial Scams and Fraud: The San Diego Model

• Summer Stephan, District Attorney, San Diego County.
• Scott Pirrello, Deputy District Attorney, San Diego County District Attorney’s Office.

California’s Resources to Combat Financial Scams and Fraud

• James Treggiari, Adult Protective Services Program Administrator, Department of Social Services.
• Johnette Jauron, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Cybercrimes Section, Department of Justice.
• Suzanne Martindale, Chief Deputy Commissioner, Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (written testimony here).

The hearing was very interesting and generated questions and discussion from Commission members. The full agenda, links to written testimony, and video of the hearing can be found here.

At the second hearing, held on October 23, consumer advocates and industry leaders shared their perspectives on the challenges and opportunities California faces in combatting this type of fraud.

Testifying at the Hearing

Testifying at the hearing were:

• Donata Bohanec, Executive Director, California Elder Justice Coalition (written testimony here).
• Anne Marie Murphy, Attorney, Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy – Consumer Attorneys of California (written testimony here).
• Darius Kingsley, Managing Director and Head of Consumer Banking Practices, JPMorgan Chase Bank (written testimony here).
• Kelsey Dean, Director of Global Intelligence, Coinbase (written testimony here).
• Joshua Bercu, Executive Director, Industry Traceback Group, and SVP, USTelecom (written testimony here).

Many of the witnesses shared the belief that any successful approach to combat this type of crime must be “holistic.” It must be applied across multiple industries, governmental jurisdictions at all levels, and have a centralized reporting/investigative arm. The full agenda, written testimony, and video of the hearing can be found here.

The California’s Credit Unions’ advocacy team welcomes thoughts and opinions on these hearings from credit union leaders.

Additional Resources

The commission also received written testimony from the following:

• California Blockchain Coalition.
• California Bankers Association.
• California’s Credit Unions.
• American Bankers Association.
• Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association.