Utah has built the greatest ecosystem for economic success in the nation. Over decades, we have wisely invested billions in education and transportation infrastructure, carefully managed our natural resources, and established laws and a legal framework that support and encourage hard work, reasonable risk-taking, saving and charitable giving.

As a result, Utahns are well educated, hardworking, happy and generous, all while enjoying upward mobility and the strongest family structures in the country.

But there is a growing threat to our economic freedom that we must acknowledge and address immediately — fraud. Every day, every Utahn is confronted by the worst criminal organizations worldwide. If this were happening on our streets, we would be outraged and unified in our efforts to eradicate it. 

Instead, it’s happening on our phones and computers, and tragically, Utahns are falling prey every single day. Some lose everything they have studied, worked, saved and sacrificed to achieve. We have entire government agencies established to promote economic opportunity in Utah, but we have yet to rally our resources against this rapidly growing threat.

Three years ago, the State of Texas established the Financial Crime Intelligence Center (FCIC) to focus and coordinate state and local resources on preventing and responding to fraud. It has already prevented hundreds of millions in fraud losses for Texans and has become one of the lead forces in tracking and facilitating the prosecution of financial criminals, domestic and foreign.

Financial fraud happens at the speed of a keystroke. Once it occurs, time is of the essence. Knowing who to call and how to act immediately is often critical in averting a financial catastrophe.

Just last month, I got a call from the attorney general, who got a call from a former elected official, who got a call from a neighbor who realized his small business had been scammed out of $3 million. By the time I called an expert at the American Bankers Association, who called the bank that could have held the transaction, more than 36 hours had passed. The money was long gone! To steal a popular slogan, we need to establish a 24/7 “one call, that’s all” process when it comes to financial fraud in Utah.

We also need the resources to track the latest criminal trends and deliver warnings to Utahns on the devices that are being used to perpetrate these frauds. It shouldn’t be hard for the good guys to deploy AI on every smartphone that would actively prevent fraud. 

American freedom is at stake. When someone loses their economic freedom due to fraud, they lose a corresponding portion of their personal freedom. That’s why the banking industry has invested billions in technology, processes and educational efforts to identify and prevent fraud, but we can’t do it alone. In many cases, these fraud schemes are being organized and supported by foreign nation states like North Korea and Iran, with the purpose of attacking American freedom and funding their terrorist and nuclear development activities. They are sophisticated, determined and constantly changing and improving their tactics. The only chance we have to protect the economic and personal freedom of Utahns is to get every industry and every level of government and law enforcement working together to prevent and disrupt these schemes. 

Considering all the resources our government deploys to protect our personal freedom and promote economic opportunity, it’s time we follow the lead of states like Texas. We must organize our state and local efforts to more effectively protect Utahns from financial fraud and preserve the freedoms we have all worked and sacrificed to achieve.