Fraud & Sabotage Tabletop Exercise for Banks

This exercise is part of our catalog of tabletop exercises for banks.

Scenario Overview

Participants are the management team of a fictional bank facing a rapidly developing disruption involving connectivity problems between the main server and branch locations, customer reports of credit card fraud, and missing funds from customer accounts. At the same time, inaccurate media reports begin circulating, depositors grow increasingly anxious, and the FBI requests records as part of a developing investigation.

As the pressure builds, leadership must work through customer confidence issues, operational disruption, and coordination challenges while also dealing with staffing complications as employees leave to address a separate community emergency involving a fire at a local landfill.

This exercise challenges bank leadership teams to respond to a multi-layered event involving fraud concerns, operational instability, public pressure, and competing demands on staff and management attention.

Why This Scenario Matters for Banks

Banks operate in an environment where trust, accuracy, and operational stability are essential. Fraud-related events can quickly trigger customer concern, regulatory attention, media scrutiny, and internal disruption, especially when leadership must make decisions before the full scope of the situation is understood.

This exercise helps bank leadership teams evaluate how they would respond when fraud allegations, systems issues, law enforcement involvement, and public pressure combine to threaten both operations and customer confidence.

Exercise Objectives

• Evaluate leadership decision-making during a developing fraud and operational disruption scenario.
• Discuss coordination between management, operations, customer service, and legal or investigative stakeholders.
• Review how the bank would communicate with customers, employees, regulators, and the media.
• Assess continuity of operations during simultaneous fraud concerns and staffing disruption.
• Examine how misinformation or inaccurate media reports could affect the bank's response.
• Identify priorities for stabilizing operations while maintaining confidence and accountability.

Typical Participants

• Executive leadership
• Operations management
• Risk management personnel
• Compliance or legal representatives
• Communications or public affairs staff
• Customer service leadership
• Business continuity or crisis management team members

Exercise Format

Conduct-It-Yourself Tabletop Exercises are structured, discussion-based simulations designed to help organizations test their response to disruptive events without the time and cost of a fully facilitated exercise. Participants are placed in the middle of a realistic scenario as it unfolds and must work through decisions, priorities, and consequences as a leadership team.

Each downloadable exercise package includes everything needed to conduct the session internally, including facilitator instructions, exercise overview materials, participant forms, a detailed scenario script, and a ready-to-run PowerPoint presentation that guides the scenario and discussion. The materials are designed so organizations can conduct the exercise as delivered or customize the storyline and supporting materials to reflect their own facilities, operations, and testing objectives.

Most exercises are designed to be conducted in approximately 2 to 4 hours. A typical agenda includes an exercise overview and scenario briefing, the facilitated disaster simulation discussion, group review and preparation for debriefing, and a structured post-exercise discussion to capture lessons learned and improvement opportunities.

Exercise Focus

• Crisis Management
• Continuity of Operations
• Media Relations

Related Tabletop Exercise Scenarios

Organizations exploring this scenario may also find these exercises useful:

• Cyber Crime Tabletop Exercise for Banks
• Pandemic Tabletop Exercise for Banks
• Shelter-in-Place Tabletop Exercise for Banks
• Gas Main Explosion Tabletop Exercise for Banks
• Tornado Tabletop Exercise for Banks
• Earthquake Tabletop Exercise for Banks
• Train Wreck Tabletop Exercise for Banks

Purchase & Download

This exercise is delivered as a downloadable package that includes facilitator instructions, scenario materials, and structured discussion prompts to guide the exercise.