New joint initiative combines trauma-informed training and Agentic AI to help frontline teams navigate high-risk scam interactions with greater confidence, empathy, and real-time fraud expertise
WASHINGTON, D.C. / ACCESS Newswire / May 21, 2026 / Charm Security, the company building the Agentic AI Workforce for scams, fraud, and cybercrime prevention and resolution, and Give an Hour, the national nonprofit harnessing mental health expertise to support communities in crisis, today announced the launch of a new joint initiative in recognition of National Scam Survivor Day 2026.
The initiative, “Empower the Frontline to Break the Scam Spell,” is a three-month program designed to help financial institutions better support frontline and customer-facing teams during emotionally charged and high-risk scam interactions.
As scams become increasingly sophisticated and emotionally manipulative, frontline employees are being placed at the center of some of the most difficult moments in banking and customer service. Branch employees, contact center agents, fraud teams, and member-facing staff are often required to navigate situations where customers are under active deception, fear, urgency, or psychological manipulation – frequently without the specialized fraud expertise, emotional training, or real-time support needed to intervene effectively.
At the same time, financial institutions are increasingly recognizing that traditional fraud tools alone are not enough to address modern scams. While many systems are designed to detect suspicious activity, frontline teams are often left to manage the human side of scams in real time – helping distressed customers, identifying manipulation patterns, and attempting to intervene before financial and emotional harm escalates. The initiative was created to help address this growing challenge.
Combining Mental Health Expertise with Agentic AI at the Frontline
By combining trauma-informed training from Give an Hour with Charm Security’s Agentic AI Workforce, the initiative aims to help frontline teams navigate emotionally charged scam interactions with greater confidence, empathy, and real-time fraud expertise.
Give an Hour brings expertise in trauma-informed support and mental health education, helping frontline employees better understand the emotional realities scam victims experience. At the core of Charm’s Agentic Workforce is its proprietary HVE™ (Human Vulnerabilities & Exploits) model, designed to identify and interpret the psychological tactics scammers use to manipulate victims. By understanding signals such as urgency, authority, secrecy, trust exploitation, and emotional pressure, Charm’s AI agents help frontline teams recognize high-risk situations earlier and intervene more effectively.
Supporting the People on the Frontline
The initiative reflects a growing recognition across financial services that frontline teams have become a critical line of defense against scams and human-centric fraud – yet many employees are still under-supported for the complexity and emotional intensity of these interactions.
By participating in the initiative, financial institutions aim to strengthen frontline confidence during high-pressure scam situations, improve their ability to recognize and intervene during manipulation attempts, and better support customers during moments of crisis. Together, Charm Security and Give an Hour hope the initiative will help advance a broader industry shift toward more human-centered, real-time scam prevention and intervention strategies – placing greater focus not only on stopping fraud, but also on supporting the people on the front lines of it every day.
About Give an Hour
Give an Hour® is a national nonprofit 501(c)(3), founded in 2005 by Dr. Barbara Van Dahlen, a licensed clinical psychologist. Give an Hour harnesses the skills, lived experience, and generosity of volunteers from mental health professionals to trauma-informed peer support facilitators to provide no-cost services to those in need. Since its inception, the organization has delivered over 400,000 hours of free mental health care to military service members, veterans, families, and communities. Today, Give an Hour also addresses mental health challenges stemming from human-made trauma, including but not limited to interpersonal violence, mass violence events, justice-impacted individuals, and financial scams.
About Charm Security
Charm Security builds the Agentic AI Workforce for scams, fraud, and cybercrime prevention and resolution. Charm’s AI agents combine fraud and security expertise with behavioral psychology and a deep understanding of human vulnerabilities and exploit techniques to guide real-time prevention, intervention, and resolution in high-risk moments. Acting as expert teammates to fraud, financial crime, security, and customer-facing teams, Charm helps institutions reduce losses and operational costs while improving decision quality, speed, and overall effectiveness.
Media Contacts:
Charm Security
Juliana Goldman
[email protected]
Give an Hour
Jessica Grove
[email protected]
SOURCE: Charm
