Charlie, the fintech company on a mission to help older Americans get the most out of their money and keep it safe, has officially announced the launch of SpeedBump, which happens to be a proprietary combination of pauses, alerts, and real-time education. To understand the significance of such a development, we must start by taking into account one research where it was revealed that, when people are aware of a specific scam, they are 80% less likely to engage with it. Even if they do engage under some capacity, they are 40% less likely to lose money or sensitive information. Hence, with older Americans losing an estimated $28 billion just to fraud and theft, Charlie’s latest brainchild ensures that these people are educated and empowered to protect their money during the moments they are most at risk. Markedly enough, SpeedBump activates itself when, for starters, a user is adding a new payee. You see, fraud can viably 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 installs a new payee on their own to move money out. The next instance where the solution springs to life would be transactions. This covers all those scenarios where the payee is already on the records, but the user doesn’t approve of the transaction. Another trigger for Charlie fraud prevention solution is when someone logs into Charlie account from an unknown device or a device they have not used in the past 30 days. Such an event can include hackers using a remote device to break into an account or a caretaker or service provider accessing multiple devices.
“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.”
Among other things that SpeedBump does to mitigate fraud, we have a Pause functionality, which implements a six-hour pause whenever a new payee is introduced. Only after this six-hour embargo, any money can be released from the account. Furthermore, money movement over $100 to even an established payee gets a one-hour speedbump. If the customer doesn’t take an action, the money will leave their account at the end of this pause period. Likewise, if they do take an action, they would retain the right to stop it. Anyway, next up, we have smart alerts that customers will receive on their app, via email, and text, informing them about the pause, along with the reason it was activated, before directing them to contact Charlie customer support with any questions or concerns. Beyond that, these alerts are provided for all account activities, including important things like updated balances, new device log-ins, new payees, password changes, and address changes etc.
Alongside the real-time alerts, though, customers will also receive real-time education about the type of fraud that most often corresponds with the action they are taking.
“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,” said Nazemi.
