Manual document review was no match for sophisticated fraud.

Logix Federal Credit Union, with a team of 12 investigators handling everything from check fraud to electronic crime, faced increasing challenges in document fraud detection and verification. As a credit union processing several hundred loan fraud cases annually, they needed a more efficient way to detect fraudulent documents.

"Way back when, when I was working in the branches as a frontline employee doing new accounts and loans, we always used to ask for a couple of pay stubs and a W-2, and we would eyeball it," explains Matt Overin, who leads Fraud Risk Management at Logix. "But today, with the internet and sophisticated tools to create any document you want, we really need something we can trust to look beyond what my investigators can see with the naked eye."

The manual verification process was particularly time-consuming. Investigators had to maintain files of specimen images for common documents, pull them up for comparison, and contact other financial institutions to verify account information. With manufactured or altered income documents becoming increasingly commonplace over the past six years, the team needed a more robust solution.

Automated document fraud detection transformed the investigation process.

Logix's search for a document fraud detection solution led them to Inscribe. The platform offered a comprehensive approach to document fraud detection that would streamline their investigation process.

"Today, instead of my investigators having to keep specimen images of common documents in a file and pull them up every time we find one, all the different bank statements and utility bills and things, or call other financial institutions to try to get information about the balances and the names on the accounts, we use Inscribe," says Matt. "Inscribe alerts us to document fraud. My investigators no longer have to do additional research to find the existence of the employer or any kind of cross-reference for the employer and the employee."

In implementing Inscribe, Christian and his team was able to reduce average handle times, shaving up to one minute off the average processing time of about five minutes for a standard compliance screening (that’s a 20% reduction)

“The great thing about Inscribe is that it has reduced our dependency on other, less secure tools for document storage and also created a better, stronger user experience for retrieving that information and interacting with our sellers,” Christian said.

Inscribe also helps Mercari avoid hefty fines and penalties. For example, an alert generated by Inscribe helped the company avoid one potential violation due to fraud detected in documentation sent by the seller. In this case, Christian’s team discovered that the seller was listing embargoed items that can’t be imported in the U.S. — a violation that could result in millions of dollars in fines.

“For us, compliance is not a revenue generator but a strong strategic partner that enables growth, as such there is a strong need for tools that help us collect and analyze documents, quickly and accurately,” Christian said. “As a startup, we value that Inscribe has helped us optimize our budget and also reduce handle times.”

In addition to saving the Mercari team time and money today, Christian also values that Inscribe has other use cases that can help his team in the coming years and beyond, helping Mercari continue to fight fraud and reduce risk, even as the landscape changes.