After a career in the Lafayette police department dedicated to helping the people around him, Brian “BT” Brown knew that retiring wouldn’t be the end of his service. As part of his time in the police, Brown had interacted with several investigations that involved fraud and forgeries, and developed an interest in the topic. When he began the next chapter of his life, he found Purdue Federal Credit Union (Purdue Federal) to nurture that interest.
“It’s always interested me, and I found that Purdue Federal was starting a fraud prevention department,” said Brown. “I thought, ‘Now's the time. I can retire and start another career.’”
Brown is approaching two years at Purdue Federal. He currently serves as fraud prevention manager, protecting Purdue Federal’s members from scams and fraudsters. Since Purdue Federal is member-owned, protecting members’ interests means Brown is also protecting the credit union as a whole.
“The basic role is to help our members either save money or prevent them from falling victim to scams,” said Brown. “The second part of that is to help reduce losses for Purdue Federal and our membership as a whole.”
Brown’s job is two-fold: investigating the way fraudsters scam people and figuring out ways to convey that information to the membership. This results in him working often with the other departments within Purdue Federal.
“One of the first things we implement is software technology to assist us in learning spending habits and identifying fraudulent transactions,” Brown said. “We work with marketing a lot to put out information regarding scams: what to be on the lookout for and how to prevent some of those things. We also work on realigning the information on our site to better help our members prevent fraud and information like that.”
Brown also actively engages with the community in his fraud prevention education campaign.
“We also go to community service areas and talk to members not only from our financial institution, but also other financial institutions about fraud to help them learn,” said Brown.
Brown’s job requires him to stay at the forefront of technology because the scammers are always pushing the limits. At times, it can be frustrating, but the challenge is part of what keeps Brown going.
“The most frustrating part is that scammers and fraudsters are very proactive; they’re always trying to find a new way to take advantage of our members,” said Brown. “Part of what’s intriguing and interesting is learning what they're doing and how they're doing it to help prevent scams. It's tricky, it's kind of frustrating, but the opportunity I get here at Purdue Federal is well worth it.”
Another thing that inspires Brown is the people who work around and alongside him.
“Everybody is so nice here. There's just a bunch of great people that work here at Purdue Federal,” said Brown.
At the end of the day, Brown is most inspired by the difference he’s making in the lives of Purdue Federal’s members, employees, and the credit union as a whole.
“One of the things that I take pride in is how much money that we have saved our members individually and Purdue Federal as a whole,” he said. “Purdue Federal Credit Union is actually owned by all members, and that's one of the things that's nice here. When you save members money, you also save the credit union money. It's always nice to be making strides.”
To learn more about all of the services and protections Purdue Federal Credit Union offers its members, visit purduefed.com.
