When Adrienne Terpak joined TD Bank more than 12 years ago, cyber fraud wasn't part of her job title, but it quickly became an important part of her everyday reality.
As a Senior Commercial Segment Manager in Treasury and Trade Products and Services, Adrienne doesn't sit on the cybersecurity team. But after working in Corporate Treasury for many years, she developed a sharp awareness of the vulnerabilities of clients' financial systems and the people who run them.
"I didn't start with a cyber mandate," she explained. "But helping clients with cyber awareness and fraud prevention has been central to my work from the beginning. The experience of managing a large wire transfer operation really heightened my sensitivity to potential fraud and suspicious payment activity both internally and externally."
Back when she entered the field, the most common threat was what she called "plain vanilla check fraud." Today the landscape is far more complex.
"It's the breadth and velocity of scams that are daunting, especially through social engineering and impersonation," she said. " Cybercriminals don't necessarily need to hack systems anymore, they can infiltrate by understanding people, how businesses operate, and where the money moves."
The onslaught of cyber attacks is starkly apparent as evidenced by data compiled by the FBI. According to the FBI's Internet Crime Report for 2024, Business Email Compromise complaints amounted to $2.88 billion in reported losses.
The evolving landscape makes education and prevention more important than ever. Adrienne often speaks with Middle Market, Specialty Businesses like Healthcare, Non-Profits, Higher Education, and large corporate clients about this topic. You don’t need to be in Cyber to help protect TD. Clients regularly seek support and advice from their bank partners, and we must do all we can to meet their expectations. The TD Security Awareness for Everyone (TD SAFE) content for Commercial clients was curated by Adrienne for this purpose.
Tom Gregory, Head of Treasury Management, Merchant & Government Banking at TD Bank, said, "Teamwork and cyber champions like Adrienne are essential for protecting clients, colleagues, and the bank from ongoing cybercriminals."
No special titles required to help fight fraud
Adrienne is quick to emphasize the role that every colleague and client plays in protection. "You don't need a special title to be a strong defender," she said. "We’re all empowered to adopt the defender mindset and serve as a critical layer of defense — the human firewall."
At TD, the defender mindset is supported by cross-functional collaboration. Fraud management, cyber threat analysis, client education and many other lines of business (LOB) all feed into a "fusion approach," according to Adrienne. Her collaborations with other LOBs make sure that insights are shared broadly, helping clients and colleagues alike to recognize emerging scams before losses occur.
"The approach of TD Bank is really built on trust," she said. "Our human-centered connections with clients guide our commitment to vigilance against threats at every level and across all areas of the bank."
Even with the barrage of fraud schemes, cyber threats and ongoing emergence of new scams, Adrienne sees success stories that keep motivating people to step up their efforts in the battle against fraud.
"There have been inspiring cases where colleagues and clients use what they have learned from training and stop an attack in its tracks," she said. "Those stories remind us that what we do can be effective when we’re persistent."
For Adrienne, preventing complacency comes down to frequency, consistency, and making cyber awareness a part of every conversation.
"You can't talk about payments without talking about cyber safety and fraud prevention," she said. "I encourage our frontline to weave it in when speaking with clients, not as an afterthought.”
If she had just one message to share with all TD colleagues and clients across the globe, it would be simple.
"Trust your instincts, pause to verify and report suspicious activity promptly. Collectively our actions make a huge difference. We're only as strong as our weakest link so each of us plays a role."
As Adrienne knows the stakes have never been higher, she is committed to driving awareness and vigilance across the organization and with our clients.
"Everyone is vulnerable, large businesses, small businesses, and every individual," she said. "The threats will keep evolving and so must we."
We hope you found this helpful. This article is for informational purposes only and is based on information available as of October 2025 and is subject to change. This content is not intended to be used or acted upon with respect to any client's specific circumstances. For specific advice about your unique circumstances, consider talking with your qualified professionals.
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