dsellens

TCB is pleased to announce that we have set up a new social networking site for risk and compliance people. The site has some fantastic features that should be beneficial to the industry. It is free to register, however you do need an invitation.
Forums
The site features forums on Fraud, Underwriting, Account Monitoring, Compliance, General Discussions, and Careers. The forums allow users to carry on discussions about issues they are currently involved with.
Online Chat
Users can use the online chat feature to instant message those who are online at the same time. This feature is handy if you have a quick question or if you just want to keep up the personal contact with other investigators. Chats can be with individuals or the entire group of whoever is online.
RSS Feeds
The site features RSS Feeds from Watchguard Wire, CNN, TCB’s online journals, Phone Dog and Snopes. The feeds change so you are current on the latest computer viruses, news events, and industry information.
Calendar
The calendar allows users to post industry events and any other important training that may be coming up.
Blogs
There is a blogger for use by any member. Users can blog about cases they are working together. Other users can see the data and add to the case.
Photos and Videos
Photos and videos are to be used for training scenarios only, but they are very useful. Users can share counterfeit identification pieces, interviews, training videos, etc.
Email Members
Rather than digging through various lists of people, any member can quickly email through the network.
As always, TCB hosts these training tools at no charge to the users, but the site is what the users will make of it. The more you use it and provide input, the more helpful it will be to the industry. We look forward to hearing your input! If you would like an invite to the website, please email dsellens@tcbconsultingonline.com or lleboeuf@tcbconsultingonline.com.

Defcon 17 is approaching quickly. I preach to you all every year, so nothing has changed! Defcon is the biggest hackers convention in the US and possibly the world. Hackers and security professionals gather in Las Vegas to compare notes on what is the latest and greatest in the hacking world. The conference begins on July 31 and ends on August 2nd. You can find out more on the website: www.defcon.org.
So you don’t think you should go huh?
I’d like to talk about my personal favorite hacker Major Malfunction. He likes to showboat with old skool technology, but he is probably by far the most brilliant mind attending. OK, I’m a groupie.
Major’s lectures are always packed. His most popular was probably inferred hacking. In this lecture he showed the audience how to hack into the hotel’s television set in order to pwn the hotel’s system. Basically he just hit the hotel’s TV with every inferred signal at once and it confused the system. The TV gave him an error message with an IP address. Once he had that, all he had to do was to plug in his laptop.
Another lecture went into passport hacking and how to change who you are on your passport. Our brilliant government bought cheap chips from China with the worst encryption they could find and it showed!
My personal favorite was his lecture on translating full magstripe data into .wav (sound) files. Oh how this brought back memories of the IAFCI Conference where one of the card Associations got up to explain that they were working on this technology that would record the sound of the mag stripe and this would be an additional check. A fellow investigator and I had a good giggle over that one over drinks at the hotel bar that evening. Major actually proved you could not only duplicate the sound, but you can actually duplicate all of the card data on the stripe as a sound. He hooked a tape deck to a credit card machine and was translating the card data into .wav files.
Let’s think about this…How do investigators find card data on hacker’s machines?
They look for algorithms in number sequences...not music files. That makes you think a little bit doesn’t it?
If Defcon is not on your travel plans, I would highly recommend rethinking it. You go to MAC and IAFCI for contacts. You go to Defcon to learn!

Many Operations Departments do not understand the struggles of sales. It is difficult to be a “behind the scenes” employee in this sales driven industry.
The ISOs/MSPs where Operations takes an active role in training new offices are the most successful.
There is nothing worse than finally getting a new enthusiastic sales guy on board and three deals later, you never hear from him again. This is especially true for sales people who are coming from other industries. Merchant processing is a very difficult field to understand.
The average sales training consists of the delivery of a start up kit containing examples of various forms and policies.
Do not misunderstand. This is not a bad business practice. Sales starter kits are necessary, but training should not end there.
Once the new office is on board and the Sales Training is complete, the Sales Department should step aside and turn the operational training over to the Operations people. The ideal situation is to assign an Apps/Underwriter to the new sales recruits.
Too often we hear clamoring about how a sales person does not understand operations. We tend to blame them for this lack of understanding, but if we do not invest in their training, we have no room to complain.
It is important that operations always thinks about how it would be if you were out on the street meeting with potential clients and offering them products that you were counting on someone else to deliver. If sales loses the customer due to an operational issue or miscommunication, they also run the risk of reputational damage. A sales person’s reputation and paycheck are both on the line. Does it make sense that they would just not want to understand operations?
Have your operations trainer do an introduction call and boarding 101 training. Make sure the trainer gets any applications from new sales offices. This person should go through the applications and look for training issues. As issues are identified, go back through the process with the sales office. If you need to call the merchant, do it with the new sales office on the phone so they can hear the approaches you are using.
So you say your ops people do not help in the training process… Will this help your shop?
Test it:
How many of your new sales offices send in less than 10 deals and then vanish? Of these deals, how many of them were held up? How many were pended because of something missing or wrong? How many fell into the risk area almost immediately?
Try it…..
Beta test on 10 new groups. If you do not see a difference, you can always discontinue the program. Not only should you see more sales representatives writing with you longer, you will begin seeing more camaraderie between your sales and operations areas.

TCB has rolled a new social networking site through ning.com geared toward merchant fraud. The site contains Live Chat, Forums, Blogs, RSS Feeds from sources geared toward investigation and compliance, and member lists. We hope to provide a real time avenue for people to get their questions answered. Members are by invatation only. If you would like to see if you qualify to join, email dsellens@tcbconsultingonline.com. You must be an investigator, compliance official, or a member of law enforcement to join. Acquiring friendly issuers are welcome! We hope you find the site helpful!

The International Association for Financial Crimes Investigators (IAFCI) is putting on its annual international conference in Phoenix, Arizona August 31 through September 1 of this year. The IAFCI is an international organization of members of law enforcement agencies, banks, and anyone associated with loss prevention. They are the most useful resourse that I have found for investigators.

Their annual conference features speakers and subjects from all over the world. They cover every type of fraud and crime imaginable including types of check fraud, credit card fraud, loan fraud, human trafficking, drugs, and gangs. Vendors come out to demonstrate all of the new investigative tools and toys on the market. Investigators get a real taste for technology advances from year to year. This is key in many management and loss prevention roles. The networking events are absolutely fabulous. They usually feature at least 2 nights of networking where everyone can let their hair down and meet people on a personal level. It helps everyone understand who to call for what.

The conference is geared toward all experience levels. Seasoned investigators are able to network and keep up ties with industry specialists and members of every law enforcement agency while newcomers get a taste of all types of criminal activity and make their own valuable contacts. In the changing economic times, contacts are everything. Everyone knows it is who you know, not necessarily what you know when looking for a job. The IAFCI is a valuable tool when job searching.

As an investigator, the IAFCI has been the single most valuable resource for training and contacts. Without this organization, I would not be where I am today. If you would like to learn more about the IAFCI, you can visit their website at www.iafci.org.