Grand Prize Winner: $5,000 and Sponsor's Choice Award: $1,500

Marcius Parks

It's a Scam

The 2025 top prize of $5,000 goes to Marcius Parks for “It’s a Scam,” a music video featuring the refrain, “Don’t be brainless, protect your payments.” Parks also won the Sponsor Choice Award, selected by members of the Payments Innovation Alliance, earning an additional $1,500.

Second Place Winner: $2,500

Jessie Soliday

Spot the Signs

Jessie Soliday takes the runner-up spot, and a $2,500 prize, for the video “Spot the Signs,” in which a grandmother tells of being called by a scammer who—unsuccessfully—tried to convince her that her grandson was in an accident and needed money.

Third Place Winner: $1,000

Katherine Mitchell

Puppy Love

Third place goes to Katherine Mitchell, who wins a $1,000 prize for the music video “Puppy Love,” starring a hound who falls for a female dog he meets online, which turns out to be a wolf.

Grand Prize Winner: $5,000

Austin Harris

Deep Fake Scam Education

Austin Harris educated us all on the danger of deep fakes and how difficult they can be to spot. The presenter, a senior fraud analyst named Ron, had some great advice for spotting deep fakes.

Second Place Winner: $2,500

Ruqayah Baig

Desperate Times

This entry was focused on the issue of fake job postings, teaching us how to avoid ghost jobs by staying alert.  Tips include being wary of suspicious texts or emails, roles which are too good to be true and applications requesting fees or personal information.

Third Place Winner: $1,000

Jethro Casinas

Breaking News: Scams on the Rise

This video introduced the acronym “STOP”:
S – Stay away from unknown links
T – Trust your gut feeling
O – Operate your own device
P – People you’ve never met are strangers.
It’s a simple but effective way of staying alert. 

Sponsor’s Choice Winner: $1,500

Catherine Tapling

Duplicitous Puppers

This video explored puppy scams and how things aren’t always what they seem. There was strong advice about taking care when making payments. – after all, you don’t want to find yourself with a velociraptor instead of a dog.