By R. Blake Chatelain, President and CEO of Red River Bank, Alexandria, Louisiana

If you’ve ever received a call, text, email, or direct message that just didn’t feel right, you’re not alone. Every week, customers walk into our branches asking whether an urgent payment request they received was real or a scam. For many, that moment of doubt comes minutes before sharing their account details. For some, it unfortunately comes after they’ve already been scammed.

In Louisiana, fraud is not an abstract problem. In 2024 alone, residents reported approximately 20,534 scam incidents totaling close to $90 million in losses, with a median loss of $425 per victim.

At banks like Red River Bank, protecting customers from fraud isn’t optional. We monitor accounts and advise customers when something doesn’t look right. We do this because we know how quickly scams can escalate, and because we see up close the emotional distress and financial devastation these events cause.

The problem is that many scams don’t start in a bank account. They begin with fake social media ads, spoofed phone numbers, and deceptive messages to trick people before money ever moves. By the time a bank intervenes, the scammer may already have convinced someone to act. That delay is where real harm happens.

That’s why it makes sense to stop scams earlier. More than three-quarters of Americans support tougher rules requiring social media platforms and telecom providers to do more to stop fraud at the source. People want responsibility shared across the system, not placed on consumers alone.

The SCAM Act helps move us in that direction. It strengthens tools to prevent caller ID spoofing, improves accountability for scam related messages, and helps close gaps scammers rely on. Importantly, it helps stop fraud without interfering with legitimate alerts that help keep consumers safe. It is a practical step that matches the scale of the problem.

Banks will continue to protect customers and monitor fraud, but fraud has become too widespread and sophisticated for any one sector to tackle alone. Passing the SCAM Act would help protect families, seniors, and small businesses before scammers ever reach them. Please join us in urging Congress to pass the SCAM Act.

That’s a critical step for now.