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Fighting Financial Fraud: Stanford University, FINRA Debut Prevention Center

By Melanie Waddell

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Stanford University’s Center on Longevity and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s Investor Education Foundation recently launched the Research Center on the Prevention of Financial Fraud, an interdisciplinary resource for law enforcement, government and research groups studying financial frauds–from Ponzi schemes, online phishing scams to work-from-home schemes.

Designed to not only detect emerging technologies’ influence on financial fraud, the two groups say the joint initiative will support and consolidate scientific research and use it to for practical prevention and detection efforts.

“Financial fraud is a serious economic and social problem for people of all ages and our rapidly aging population places an increasing number of older adults at risk for fraud,” said Laura Carstensen, founding director of the Stanford Center on Longevity, in a statement.

“With the Center on Longevity’s dedication to preserving financial security throughout our extended life spans, and with the support of the FINRA Foundation’s ongoing commitment to protecting individuals from fraud, the new Research Center on the Prevention of Financial Fraud seeks to enhance the financial security of Americans.” 

Gerri Walsh, acting president of the FINRA Foundation, said in the same statement that the FINRA Foundation’s partnership with Stanford “will deliver practical, cutting-edge research to policymakers and law enforcement. This new joint initiative complements an array of FINRA Foundation initiatives to protect Americans from fraud.”

The Research Center plans to hold an inaugural conference, The State and Future of Financial Fraud, Nov. 3–4 in Washington, D.C. The conference will bring together policymakers, researchers, practitioners, law enforcement, advocacy groups and others to discuss implications of the latest research and programs that successfully help consumers combat fraudulent tactics.

The work of the Research Center is led by an advisory council charged with establishing research priorities and facilitating policy-research development. This group includes Stanford faculty across psychology, economics and business, and officials from the FINRA Foundation, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the National Association of Attorneys General, AARP and other public sector organizations.