Synovus prioritizes fraud protection with Carefull

Business Wire 25-Feb-2025 9:40 AM

New benefit helps account holders prevent fraud, scams and detect money mistakes

Synovus is tackling the rising epidemic of financial exploitation by offering Carefull to proactively detect and resolve risks for clients and their family members.

Fraud is one of the fastest-growing financial crimes in the U.S., with consumers losing an estimated $158.3 billion, adjusted for under reporting, in 2023, according to a report by the Federal Trade Commission. Financial exploitation affects people of all ages. Older adults face heightened risks, with one in five having fallen victim to fraud or financial exploitation.

"Our business is built on trusted relationships with clients, so we want to be the first line of defense in protecting them from fraud and scams while strengthening our multigenerational banking relationships," said Liz Wolverton, executive vice president, head of consumer banking and brand experience at Synovus. "Carefull allows Synovus and our clients to stay ahead of fraud and reinforces our commitment to delivering value for our clients."

By offering Carefull in a phased approach as a complimentary benefit to its clients, Synovus ensures that consumer-led, proactive fraud prevention is built more deeply into the everyday banking experience. The Carefull service includes oversight of bank, credit card and investment accounts for concerning patterns, signs of fraud, scams and common money mistakes. Carefull also provides identity and home title monitoring, credit monitoring and a secure digital vault for storing critical documents and passwords.

"Protecting all clients from financial threats is essential for any financial institution, but it's especially critical for older adults, who hold 65% of U.S. deposits and are often targeted by scams," said Todd Rovak, co-founder of Carefull. "Great financial institutions have realized there is an opportunity to become a powerful ally to consumers amid threats and risk. Synovus is passionate about bolstering its support for families through Carefull's unique approach to identifying issues like romance, political and charitable giving scams. These things often go undetected until it's too late since they are rarely shared with others."

Carefull's Trusted Contacts feature allows Synovus clients to include family members in monitoring, bringing younger generations into the banking relationship or allowing them to care for an aging parent, creating a stronger, multigenerational financial foundation for families. Approximately 75% of Carefull's users engage a family member in the platform in some way, increasing the chances of catching fraudulent activity earlier and minimizing the financial and operational responsibility on the bank, all while providing additional value to clients.

"We're committed to protecting our clients and their financial futures," added Wolverton. "If we enable them to manage their days with less risk and a strong sense of security in a way that differentiates and delights, Synovus will continue to gain confidence from our clients and partners. And Carefull helps us do just that."

For more information about Synovus and its partnership with Carefull, please visit Synovus Carefull Partnership.

About Synovus Bank

Synovus Bank, a Georgia-chartered, FDIC-insured bank, provides commercial and consumer banking in addition to a full suite of specialized products and services, including wealth services, treasury management, mortgage services, premium finance, asset-based lending, structured lending, capital markets and international banking. Synovus has branches in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee. Synovus is a Great Place to Work-Certified Company. Learn more about Synovus at synovus.com.

About Carefull

Carefull is the first financial safety platform designed to protect aging adults, their families, and financial institutions from elder fraud, scams, and money mistakes. Built to support the unique needs of older adults, Carefull's proprietary AI provides 24/7 account monitoring, a suite of identity and home protections, along with expert resources to help families, advisors and FIs safeguard families' financial well-being. Banks use Carefull to deepen relationships across generations, provide proactive protection, and enhance trust with clients navigating both aging and financial caregiving for older adults. Recognized for its innovation in financial safety, Carefull partners with leading institutions to put financial care into financial services. Learn more at GetCarefull.com.

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Synovus Audria Belton Media Relations media@synovus.com

Carefull Becky Ross Head of Marketing press@carefull.com