Perry County, City of Perryville Partner with The Bank of Missouri for Fraud Prevention Training

Administrative staff from Perry County and the City of Perryville recently joined together for a continuing education program focused on fraud-prevention, reinforcing both organizations' commitment to safeguarding public resources through ongoing professional development.

The training session was presented by Cory Gerstenschlager, Director of Fraud Mitigation & Security at The Bank of Missouri and brought together employees from both governmental entities to learn about emerging fraud trends, prevention strategies, and best practices for protecting financial assets and sensitive information.

During the session, Gerstenschlager shared industry expertise gained through years of leadership in fraud mitigation and financial security, and whose work has included developing and enhancing fraud monitoring and dispute resolution procedures, particularly for newly implemented credit card services and Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) products.

The collaborative training held at the Perry County Joint Justice Center on July 14 was coordinated by Perry County Treasurer Katie Schemel and City of Perryville Treasurer Paula Terbrak, who recognized the value of providing employees with up-to-date knowledge on an increasingly important topic affecting both the public and private sectors.

"As fraud schemes continue to evolve, education remains one of the most effective tools available to organizations and individuals," said Perry County Treasurer Katie Schemel. "We appreciate The Bank of Missouri's willingness to share its expertise and help equip our staff with practical knowledge that will strengthen our financial safeguards and better serve the public."

City of Perryville Treasurer Paula Terbrak added that the partnership demonstrates the value of collaboration between local governments and community financial institutions.

"Bringing our teams together for training allows us to share knowledge, strengthen professional relationships, and ensure we are prepared to recognize and respond to emerging fraud threats," Terbrak said. "We are grateful to Cory and The Bank of Missouri for investing in our community through this educational opportunity."

Training highlights included reminding employees to trust their intuition, because if something feels off, it probably is, and to process transactions methodically, without rushing, as many instances of fraud occur when a person is in a hurry to complete the task.

Gerstenschlager warned attendees about the concerning developments with Artificial Intelligence technology, stating it only takes four seconds for AI to replicate a voice and speech pattern.

Schemel praised the Bank of Missouri’s Positive Pay service that protects both the City and County from fraud attacks. The Bank of Missouri offers Positive Pay solutions to protect your business against check forgery, alteration, and unauthorized electronic transactions. By automatically comparing presented checks and ACH debits against your authorized issue lists, the system flags discrepancies for your approval before funds are released.