Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) are one of the most important tools financial institutions use to identify risk, protect customers, and understand emerging financial crime trends. In today’s environment, suspicious activity most often falls into a few core patterns rather than isolated events.

This webinar will provide an overview of how suspicious activity presents itself across both community banking and correspondent banking relationships. Participants will explore three critical SAR risk areas: customer exploitation/social engineering, digital and cyber-enabled fraud, and high-risk or complex business relationships, including marijuana-related businesses.

The session will focus on recognizing behavioral and transactional red flags, understanding how risk can surface differently across institutions, and clearly documenting activity so that the story behind the transaction is easy to understand and act upon.

 Program Highlights

• Overview of how suspicious activity shows up in today’s banking environment
• Understanding shared risk across community and correspondent banking relationships
• Risk Area 1: Customer Exploitation and Social Engineering
  • Elder financial exploitation, relationship-based scams, and trusted-party influence
• Risk Area 2: Digital & Cyber-Enabled Fraud
  • Business email compromise, phishing, account takeovers, and crypto-related scams
• Risk Area 3: High-Risk & Complex Business Relationships
  • Marijuana-related businesses, cash-intensive activity, and indirect exposure
• Identifying key red flags and patterns across all three risk areas
• Practical tips for clearly documenting suspicious activity and telling the full story

Presenters:

Jennifer Cliber Smith, CRCM, Compliance Anchor Director

D’Anna Gonzalez, CAMS, AVP BSA Manager

D’Anna Gonzalez is the BSA Manager at ACBB and has been with the bank for 5 years. She lives in Rhode Island and has 10+ years of experience in the BSA/AML industry.

Karissa Hurst, BSA Analyst

Karissa Hurst is a BSA Analyst at ACBB and has been with the bank for 3 years. She lives in Rhode Island and has 10+ years of experience in the BSA/AML industry.

Marisa Stagg, BSA Analyst

Marisa Stagg is a BSA Analyst at ACBB and has been with ACBB for 8 months. She lives in Pennsylvania and has 10+ years of experience in BSA/AML industry.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND: This informative session is designed for BSA Officers, BSA coordinators, Compliance Officers, Security Officers, and Operation coordinators.