Case Study: Washington Mutual achieves 80-to-1 ROI and $20M+ annual fraud savings with FraudFighter

Washington Mutual - Customer Case Study

Washington Mutual, then the largest U.S. savings & loan, faced escalating counterfeit and identity-document fraud across its retail network—false IDs, counterfeit checks and currency, and fraudulent HELOC and credit applications were producing large branch-level losses. To tackle these risks, Washington Mutual piloted and then deployed FraudFighter ultra‑violet counterfeit-detection devices (Fraud Fighter™ UV-16 and POS-15) at teller, new-accounts and loan desks.

FraudFighter supplied roughly 29,000 UV units after a successful 800‑unit pilot (cost $225,000) that prevented dozens of counterfeit transactions and a stopped $92,000 HELOC fraud; the pilot generated annualized savings >$20 million and an initial-year ROI greater than 80-to-1. With additional purchases (a July 2007 PO for ~21,780 units) and a total equipment investment of about $1.3M, FraudFighter’s solution materially reduced counterfeit and ID-related losses across Washington Mutual’s branch network.

Washington Mutual