Fraud reviewers work against an adversary who studies how the agent and its people behave. Onboarding must therefore teach a new reviewer when not to release: a held payment, a blocked card, an unblock request. The checklist runs from access and red lines, through shadowing and training, to a practicum with real scam cases, a drill and sign-off.
What makes fraud review different?
Most reviewers face honest mistakes. Fraud reviewers face people trying to get past them. The fraud agent scores payments and logins, blocks a card or holds a payment within bounds at depth 3, drafts warnings to customers, and holds release decisions for a person. Releasing a held payment is a depth 4 decision: once the money leaves, it is hard to recover. And some actions are withheld for every agent at every depth, such as reversing a payment already settled on the business's own rail.
The hardest cases involve customers who are being deceived. A customer insists the payment is genuine, because the fraudster has told them what to say. The reviewer must know how to slow things down, ask the right questions and, sometimes, keep a payment held against the customer's wishes until they have spoken to them properly. Pressure also arrives from inside: a colleague asking for a quick release for a "VIP".
How do you use the checklist?
The fraud operations manager owns it and signs each line. A new reviewer has no release rights until line 15. Keep the checklist with the training file; when a scam loss is reviewed months later, it shows what the reviewer was taught. For what onboarding means in general, and for the overall order of training, see the guide to training teams for AI agents. The method for teaching review is in how to train the fraud team to review AI agent decisions.
The checklist
| # | Item | Done when |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Read-only access to alerts, held payments and the record | Confirmed |
| 2 | Agent capabilities read: scoring (1), card blocks and payment holds within bounds (3), warning drafts (2), release (4, held), settled reversals (withheld) | Signed |
| 3 | Red lines signed: never release a payment flagged as a likely scam without speaking to the customer on a number on file; never unblock on an email or chat request alone; never ask a customer for a full password or one-time code | Signed |
| 4 | Buddy named | Recorded |
| 5 | Shadowing: two days on held payments and blocks | Buddy confirms |
| 6 | Heard a scam-victim call handled by the buddy | Buddy confirms |
| 7 | Seen a release declined despite the customer's insistence | Buddy confirms |
| 8 | Shared foundation complete | Test score recorded |
| 9 | Reviewer modules and written exam complete | Exam result recorded |
| 10 | Practicum: two weeks of real held decisions, confirmed by a buddy | Record complete |
| 11 | Coverage: an impersonation scam, an account takeover, a false positive and an internal request for a fast release | Case list attached |
| 12 | Incident drill completed | Drill log |
| 13 | Assessor sign-off; no missed red line | Signed |
| 14 | Release limits recorded | Rights register |
| 15 | Renewal date set | Register entry |
Worked example
An illustrative digital bank's fraud team takes on Sample Reviewer T. The agent holds any first payment to a new payee above 1,000 when the risk score is high, and blocks cards after unusual overseas use.
In shadowing, Sample Reviewer T listens as her buddy calls a customer about a held payment of 8,000 to a "safe account". The customer says their bank's security team told them to move the money. The buddy explains, calmly, that no bank asks this, keeps the payment held and arranges a follow-up call. The customer later confirms they were contacted by a fraudster.
Her practicum covers 90 held decisions. She releases a false positive, a customer buying a car from a dealer whose details she confirms, and declines a chat request to unblock a card from someone who could not pass security. When a colleague messages asking her to "just release" a business customer's payment, she checks the record and keeps it held until she speaks to the account holder. She is signed off in week 7 with release rights up to 10,000.
Where the Academy fits
Pryme Intelligence Academy delivers lines 8, 9 and 13 through Operator. Module tests are set in the learner's own industry and role, so a fraud reviewer is tested on scams and takeovers. The practicum needs at least 95 in every 100 decisions correct and no missed red line, signed off by a Pryme assessor; the certificate lasts 12 months.
Questions people ask
Do fraud and onboarding reviewers need the same training?
They share the foundation and many identity skills, but their held actions differ. Onboarding reviewers decide who becomes a customer, as in the reviewer onboarding checklist for the onboarding team and how to train the onboarding team to review AI agent decisions.
How do support reviewers fit in?
They often take the first call from a customer whose card is blocked. Their path is in the reviewer onboarding checklist for the support team; they should know when to hand over to fraud.
Why is reversing a settled payment withheld?
Because the risk of misuse outweighs the convenience. The action exists and works, but the platform refuses it for every agent at every depth, so it always needs a person through a separate process.