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Karen Brandt

@karenbrandt

Fraud investigator on USAA Bank and Regions Bank projects who filed 300+ SARs and investigated financial crime.

On the USAA Bank project, I investigated financial crime across identity theft, elder exploitation, account takeover, scams, and payment channels. I reviewed transactions and completed KYC, CDD, and EDD checks for high-risk customers.

I prepared and submitted 300+ Suspicious Activity Reports in compliance with regulatory and FinCEN requirements. I also used Nice Actimize, Safire, ECAMS, Lexis Nexis, Verafin, Fiserv, SharePoint, and Excel to investigate suspicious activity.

On the Regions Bank project, I conducted AML and fraud investigations and resolved over 100 high-value cases monthly. I prepared and submitted 50+ SARs in line with regulatory requirements and internal standards.

At PayPal, I used behavioral trend analysis to identify suspicious activity and worked with rules data scientists on risk-reduction strategies that reduced false positives by 25%. In Seller and Buyer Risk Management, I conducted quality reviews and trained investigative teams on fraud detection methods.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Fraud Claims Investigations

MBO Partners | Price Waterhouse Cooper (PWC) | Citibank proj

Aug 2025 - Sep 2025 (1 month)

Assessed and verified credit card claim resolutions, resolving over 50 high-value chargeback cases while reviewing merchant actions, dispute logic, and fraud indicators. Conducted peer reviews to ensure compliance with quality standards and company procedures.

Fraud Detection Chargeback Investigation Dispute Resolution Compliance Quality Assurance

Fraud Investigator

MBO Partners | Price Waterhouse Cooper (PWC) | Regions Bank

May 2025 - Aug 2025 (3 months)

Conducted end-to-end AML and fraud investigations across diverse cases such as identity theft, account takeover, check and wire fraud, ACH transfers, and P2P payments, resolving 100+ high-value cases monthly. Prepared and submitted 50+ Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) in compliance with regulatory/FinCEN requirements.

AML Fraud Investigation SAR Filings FinCEN Identity Theft Account Takeover Check Fraud Wire Fraud ACH Peer to Peer Payments Compliance

Fraud Investigator

MBO Partners | Price Waterhouse Cooper (PWC) | USAA Bank pro

Jan 2024 - May 2025 (1 year 4 months)

Used fraud detection to review financial transactions, maintained AML compliance, and completed KYC/CDD/EDD checks for high-risk customers, improving compliance speed and accuracy by 20%. Conducted AML and fraud investigations across various financial crime typologies, resolving over 100 major cases each month and submitting 300+ SARs.

AML Fraud Detection KYC CDD EDD SAR Filings FinCEN NICE Actimize Safire ECAMS LexisNexis Verafin Fiserv SharePoint Excel

Global Risk Investigations

PayPal

Apr 2018 - Jul 2022 (4 years 3 months)

Applied behavioral trend analysis to classify risk patterns from account and transaction data, identifying suspicious activity including cross-channel laundering. Worked with rules data scientists to update risk reduction strategies, reducing false positives by 25% and accelerating case resolution.

Fraud Detection Risk Analysis Behavioral Analysis Data Analysis Cross Channel Laundering False Positives Reduction

Seller and Buyer Risk Management ICA (quality analyst)

PayPal

Sep 2006 - Apr 2018 (11 years 7 months)

Mentored and conducted QA on peer investigations, training 20+ investigative teams on data-driven fraud detection methods and workflow best practices, improving team accuracy by 20%. Recommended process improvements, increasing investigative workflow efficiency by 15%.