How Merck Employees Federal Credit Union is Fighting Elder Fraud and Scams With Carefull
By Carefull
February 18, 2025
Fraud is escalating at an unprecedented rate, and with older members holding up to two-thirds of U.S. deposits, credit unions are increasingly on the front lines of protecting these members from scams, identity theft, and even common financial mistakes. Paul Gentile of Merck Employees Federal Credit Union (MEFCU) recently took a major step forward by partnering with Carefull, the financial safety service designed to help credit unions provide members with unique protections from scams, senior financial exploitation, and also detect a range of member risks like romance scams or even cognitive decline.
We sat down with Paul Gentile, CEO of MEFCU, to discuss why the credit union made this move, why now, and how it aligns with its mission to protect and serve its members.
Q: Fraud has always been a concern, but why was now the right time for MEFCU to invest in more member financial protection?
Paul Gentile: Fraud is very much on the rise, and it’s coming from all angles. Sadly some members fall victim to it and aside from any financial impacts, it’s very stressful for the members. The criminals are bold and getting bolder. They’re not being prosecuted enough or caught enough, and they’ve been emboldened, they’re not going to stop. So we, in turn, cannot be lax with helping to protect our members. Whatever we can do to protect our members we’re going to do. There was no time to wait on bringing in more protections with Carefull that’s for sure.
Q: What specific fraud challenges have you seen among your members?
Paul Gentile: The number of scams impacting our members has grown considerably in the last few years, particularly with older members. Members are often embarrassed for falling victim to the scams, but they shouldn’t. The scammers are savvy and sophisticated. And it’s coming via text, email, regular mail and of course over the phone. We do a tremendous job at the credit union protecting against fraud, but what we can’t help is what members are doing on their end. If they click something, if they give somebody information they shouldn’t, those things lead to fraud, and up until now there’s nothing we can do to prevent that.
Thankfully there is a lot members can do to prevent fraud, but they must do it. One of the best things they can do is stay on top of their accounts. We have members who don’t log in to their accounts frequently. Some of them take pride in that as they say they don’t need to – they log in once every couple of months. That’s a bad scenario because if there’s fraud going on, they’re unaware of it. We’ve seen people defrauded who hadn’t checked their account for three months, and by the time they call us, it’s harder to get the money back and help them. So anything that’s going to alert them to suspicious activity in real-time is a benefit and that’s what Carefull does. I also like Carefull’s weekly summary emails. If they at least read those we are in better shape.
Q: Why did you choose to work with Carefull specifically?
Paul Gentile: Carefull stood out because it is so different from back-of-house fraud solutions and offers so much more than just credit monitoring or identity solutions. So it was a no-brainer. You get the million-dollar insurance, and you get all the monitoring for fraud, scams, credit, home, everything money – it’s an all-encompassing solution. I’m also big on member relations, and branding, and if you look how Carefull is packaged, everything is member friendly. For example, you choose what level of communication you want from the service. You can put some accounts in or all your accounts in. But the other key is the educational aspect. Carefull continually updates stories and data on the latest scams and that is great for member awareness.
The other thing we like about Carefull is that our members really like to talk and spend time with us when they get hit with fraud. And while we love talking to our members, there’s only so much time we can spend. Now, we can refer them to Carefull, where they can have a deeper dive discussion with a fraud expert. It gives them peace of mind, and it takes some pressure off our team as well. So that’s nice.
Q: How does this partnership align with MEFCU’s mission as a credit union?
Paul Gentile: When you’re a member of MEFCU, you put a lot of trust in us to protect your accounts. That’s what we first and foremost want to do. We need people to trust us, and we put so much effort into this. You have no idea how much time we spend on fraud internally. We are definitely best of breed when it comes to protecting people. Our fraud loss ratio is lower than many because of all the things we do on our end.
But again, the things we can’t control are members who don’t want to log into their accounts often, members who give out information to others, members who are innocently defrauded. They’re great people, but they trust people, and they get on the phone with someone and give out information. So, we wanted to fill that gap as best we could.
At the end of the day, we’re a true traditional credit union. We’re not out to make the most money we can on our members, fee them, or do things like that. We want trust, because that’s what credit unions were chartered to do. We’re supposed to be good actors in financial services, and I believe in that. So this partnership with Carefull helps add to that model that we want to be.
Q: How did the implementation process go? Was it a heavy lift for your team?
Paul Gentile: Implementation was really straightforward, and that was important to us. We didn’t want a massive IT project. I like the fact that it’s not a very intensive technology project. It’s a huge benefit we can give to our members without the need for a development project.
Security, of course, was another factor. We are under a lot of pressure to ensure everything we do is secure and we want to do the best for our members. But I liked what I saw with Carefull’s security protocols. It’s read-only, it doesn’t keep any of your private details, it’s very secure, and as always if a member is uncomfortable they do not have to do it. In our first couple of days we had 500 sign-ups so it’s pretty clear members want this.
Q: What advice would you give to other credit unions considering Carefull?
Paul Gentile: First and foremost, it protects your members, and we should do everything we can to protect our members, always. I think fraud is an under-the-radar issue when it comes to the regulatory front. We’re all very highly regulated, and I tell my examiners every year, "You guys need to get fraud specialists into credit unions to make sure credit unions are doing everything they can to protect their members." I think this is a great tool to do that.
Everybody wants more share of wallet, and having the trust factor is huge. There’s no way you can say this doesn’t add to the trust factor. And I also like that it’s really easy for members. They can choose how much information to add and if they want to add their outside account or even other family members.
Q: What’s next for MEFCU and this partnership?
Paul Gentile: We’ve just launched Carefull to all of our members because we want to get this out helping our members as soon as possible. Everything takes time to digest, and I’m sure some of our members will take time to learn about it. The earlier we can get it out, the better it will be for us and them.
We’re also planning to do more member education. One thing we love about Carefull is that they can provide educational webinars or seminars for our members about elder fraud in general. We absolutely want to do that. Our members will love it.
Members need help now. So, for Paul and MEFCU, partnering with Carefull was a simple, powerful way to help members help themselves, reinforce trust, and continue its legacy of putting members first.
Connect with Carefull to learn more.
About Carefull
Carefull is a PRT (protect/retain/transfer) service for credit unions purpose-built to protect older members, retain deposits, and bridge to the next generation ahead of wealth transfer. It is the first and only digital platform designed to help credit unions protect the daily finances of seniors while assisting the adult children who often support them.