Before we all look to relax with family and loved ones over the holiday period, we thought we would have a lightning recap of 2025 and what it meant to CFCA in fifteen highlights of the year.

ONE – A Celebration

CFCA started the year celebrating its 40th anniversary. A considerable amount has happened in the telecommunications industry since 1985, including operator consolidation, network technologies, fraud and risk threats and much more, and CFCA are privileged and proud to still be at the forefront in fighting fraud with our members.

TWO – Three Sell-out Events

CFCA hosted three face-to-face sell-out events in 2025, including Tucson, Arizona in March, which kicked off our trio of events. We then moved on to our European event held in Prague in June, hosted by T-Mobile CZ, where we invited European telecom and banking operators to join us. CFCA closed with our East Brunswick, New Jersey event in September, hosted by Somos All three events had full attendance and packed agendas.

THREE – Not just Telecoms – Banking 

We have steadily increased our cross-industry partnerships and relationships, and our banking membership is increasing to reflect the work we are doing to look at mitigating identity theft, scams and reducing spoofed calls that affect the banking industry through sharing experiences and education

FOUR – Growing Membership

Membership has continued to increase year on year, including more banking members as well as governmental agencies to complement our telecom industry members. We also have several small enterprises joining and look forward to their contribution in the fight.

FIVE – Expanding Board

We welcomed new board members in 2025 to strengthen our already strong executive board with Howard Lang, Clint Breithaupt and Adam Falus joining and already adding valuable input, time, and effort.

SIX – Growing LinkedIn Followers 

CFCA has reached over 4,750 followers on LinkedIn, with followers from around the globe, who follow CFCA’s activities and successes.

SEVEN – Numerous KNOWS

We consistently had over 50 members and guests attending our monthly KNOW Open Virtual LoL Sessions in 2025 that discussed challenges and threats facing members and instigated huge amounts of collaboration and intelligence sharing in the fight against fraud.  These sessions were supported by a large number of partner KNOW sessions throughout the year, offering insights and education to our members.

EIGHT – Expanded Committee and Working Groups 

2025 saw a new committee structure was introduced with new committees and working groups to support cross-industry, technology, evolving fraud threats and reflect the changes we are experiencing in the fraud landscape.

NINE – Stronger Strategic Partners 

We continue to strengthen relationships and partnerships to support our members and wider intelligence and fraud-fighting initiatives, and we have not finished yet. We will ensure that each partnership is productive and adds value to our members in 2026.

TEN – Recognition with Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Awards

This year welcomed several inductees into the CFCA Hall of Fame for their contribution to the telecom fraud industry and for supporting their peers in mentorship, support, and collaboration, as well as their involvement in the CFCA. We also recognised three individuals for the Lifetime Achievement Award for their outstanding contribution.

Huge thanks and recognition to David Rogers, MBE, Joel Bernstein, Jason Lane-Sellers. Adam Panagia, John Cunningham, Mary Hochheimer, and Joe Menes were inducted in the CFCA Hall of Fame and Clemmie Scott, Adam Panagia and Dieter Zeller were awarded the CFCA Lifetime Achievement.

ELEVEN – Online Training Available 

CFCA launched our online training course supported by our industry partner organisation TUFF – Telecommunications UK Fraud Forum, to provide a comprehensive range of fraud topics our members can study at their leisure.

TWELVE – Board Blogs published 

Our board members have been putting pen to paper to provide insights, experiences, thoughts and opinions on a number of topics, and we look forward to publishing more in 2026.

THIRTEEN – Fraud survey released 

At the end of the year, we produced our bi-monthly global fraud loss survey with a streamlined format, the published report was presented in a KNOW session before the holiday period. This is available for members to download.

FOURTEEN – ®

Communications Fraud Control Association® is now trademarked, which means we can put the ® symbol after our name. This is to ensure no one tries to impersonate us without legal recourse.

FIFTEEN – Giving Back

And finally, one of our best highlights is giving back to charity. In 2025, CFCA raised through its members and event attendees just under $12,000, as well as a large number of physical items, including books and toys for deserving charities.

Southern Arizona Book Heroes to bring awareness to mental health in children, share about Adverse Childhood Experiences

Pink Bubble Foundation supports young cancer patients across the Czech Republic

Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Middlesex County is an advocate for children who have been abused or neglected and are living in out-of-home placement.

What a Year!

As you can see in the fifteen highlights, 2025 has been a busy and productive year. We thank our board, administrative team, sponsors, partners, event hosts and all our members for their support and input throughout the year.

In 2026, we are not slowing down. We already have three events planned and in the calendar – locations and dates are already booked, make sure you book your place.

We have several KNOW sessions planned, including in January, to kick-start the year. Join us if you have not before to hear from fellow industry experts.

We are confident 2026 will be another great year for CFCA and its members. If you are a member and would like to get more involved in supporting our activities and initiatives, please reach out to the board or contact the administration team.  If you are not a member and wish to join, go to our website page or contact us at fraud@cfca.org