News & Alerts
February 23, 2026
NonStop LOCAL published a digital article regarding increased risks of scams due to the rise of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency ATMs across Montana.
Bitcoin ATM scams in Montana expose residents to fraud risks | Montana News | montanarightnow.com
October 22, 2025
CNN published a digital article regarding fraud & crypto ATMs. The article talks about the “fight” over legislation around the country regarding the ATMS and the liability of the ATM operators for the use of their ATMs by criminal elements in their fraud schemes.
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2025/10/us/crypto-atm-scams-companies-profit-invs-vis/
November 9, 2020
When you present your debit card at a gas station, hotel, or car rental agency, the merchant can put a hold on your debit card. The amount of the hold is set by the merchant. The financial institution sets the length of the hold, which can be several days to several weeks. Holds at gas stations can be in the $50 to $150 range, since the merchant is ensuring that you have money available assuming you are filling up a halfton pickup. Holds at hotels are in the $50-$200 range, to make sure you can pay for the room and incidentals. Holds at car rental companies are typically several hundred dollars.
The hold will tie up that amount of money in your account. If you don’t have enough to cover the hold in your account and any other charges you have made, you can be charged overdraft fees.
How can you protect yourself from this? Use a credit card or pay cash for gas. Federal law limits your liability for fraudulent charges on your credit card to $50 if you dispute the charge within 60 days of the statement date. Most credit cards companies actively monitor for fraud and offer to protect their customers from fraudulent transactions.
You can use a debit card and a pin, but due to the risk of card skimmers stealing your card number and pin, it is not recommended. If a scammer gets access to your checking account, they can drain all the money out before you realize it. So the next time you get gas, check into a hotel or rent a car, reach for the credit card.
June 18, 2020
Have you received a phone call or email from someone asking you to withdraw or forward an unexpected automatic deposit in your account (or part of it) to someone else?
Have you received a letter from the Montana Department of Labor & Industry addressing your application for Unemployment Insurance (UI) or Pandemic Unemployment Insurance benefits -- but you didn’t apply for unemployment benefits?
Sophisticated fraud rings are operating a nationwide scheme taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to steal money in state unemployment benefits, including in Montana. The scammers file for unemployment benefits using data they have gained in other data hacks. Through these data breaches, they have obtained sensitive personally identifiable information belonging to their victims, including names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and social security numbers. The unemployment benefits are deposited into the victim’s account, or another account, and the scammers have the money forwarded to them.
What to do if you suspect you are a victim of unemployment fraud:
If you received any of the warning signs listed above and suspect you may be a victim of unemployment fraud, you should:
- Immediately report it to the Montana Department of Labor & Industry at http://uid.dli.mt.gov/report-fraud, or by calling the Department’s UI Fraud Insurance hotline at (406) 444-0072, or at 1-888-556-4677.
- Contact the financial institution at which the account is located.
- Alert your employer immediately.
- Contact your local police department to determine if you should file a fraud report.
- Contact the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and Transunion.
- Consider putting a freeze on your credit to protect your identity.
- Contact your other financial institutions immediately.
- View the Federal Trade Commission’s identity theft website at identitytheft.gov for resources and a detailed step-by-step process for reporting and protecting against identity theft.
- Keep a close eye on your accounts.
The Montana Department of Labor & Industry is diligently working with the banking industry and others to prevent Unemployment Fraud from occurring in Montana. Victims of unemployment fraud are not required to repay the stolen money. Fraud victims who must apply for UI benefits can still do so.
The Department thoroughly investigates all reports of potential, alleged, or suspected fraud. Those found to have committed UI fraud are subject to penalties and/or criminal prosecution.
The U.S. Department of Labor recently issued an Unemployment Insurance Fraud alert, reporting that scammers are targeting personal information. For more information on this alert, visit https://uid.dli.mt.gov/_docs/Fraud-Alert-Graphic.pdf.
January 7, 2026
A mortgage loan originator has received serious sanctions and fines after settling with 21 state financial regulatory agencies that accused him of directing another person to take required education on his behalf and taking the credit for himself.
Under the settlement, Patrick Terrance Donlon (NMLS ID 785311), who worked for Trusted American Mortgage LLC (NMLS ID 1329867), is barred from practicing in most of the states, is restricted from practicing in others, and is required to pay fines totaling $31,000.
The full article is available on the CSBS website.
August 31, 2023
Montana law requires that mortgage loan originators (MLOs) receive a W-2. The Montana Mortgage Act (32-9-116(1), MCA) provides that a mortgage loan originator may transact business for only one employing mortgage broker or one employing mortgage lender licensed in accordance with the provisions of the Act. Additionally, the term “employing” within ARM 2.59.1701(3) means the entity for whom the individual works is liable for withholding payroll taxes pursuant to Title 26 of the United States Code.
The worker classification for Montana MLOs should be designated as a W2 Employee in the NMLS. The only exception would be for MLOs that are also owners of the mortgage broker and/or mortgage lender entity.
The Division of Banking and Financial Institutions (Division) will be sending out additional communications to companies sponsoring MLOs in which the worker classification has been left blank or is listed as a Non-W2 Employee. Please be advised that the Division will be rejecting sponsorship requests if the MLO’s worker classification is left blank or listed as a Non-W2 Employee.
If you have any questions, please email the Division at mortgagelicensing@mt.gov.
July 12, 2021
Montana Commissioner of Banking Melanie Hall has rescinded the Proclamation dated January 15, 2021. The Supervisory Memo and Order Rescinding Proclamation is available on our website.
May 18, 2021
The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) today announced the election of Montana Commissioner of Banking and Financial Institutions Melanie Hall as the new chair of the CSBS Board of Directors. Read the full article here.
December 10, 2020
BankBeat featured Montana Banking Commissioner Melanie Hall in this article published December 9th, 2020.
October 22, 2019
The Division recently created a Frequently Asked Questions page for their website related to Mortgage and Consumer Finance. You can find the page here: http://banking.mt.gov/MortgageConsumerFinance/FAQs
August 1, 2019
Banks and credit unions are uniquely positioned to detect that an older account holder has been targeted or victimized, and to take action. In March of 2016, the CFPB published an Advisory and Recommendations for financial institutions on preventing and responding to elder financial exploitation. The 2016 Advisory includes a spectrum of voluntary best practices to assist financial institutions in protecting their older account holders.
In this 2019 updated advisory, the Bureau urges banks and credit unions to report to the appropriate local, state and federal authorities whenever they suspect that an older adult is the target or victim of elder financial exploitation (EFE). The updated advisory focuses on reporting suspected financial abuse. It builds on the Bureau's earlier recommendations and its recent research on Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) of EFE. It provides new information about reporting EFE based on federal and state law changes. The new analysis of current laws aims to help financial institutions in their effort to combat elder fraud.
May 1, 2018
The Division of Banking has been asked if a state-charted bank may hold life insurance on a former employee. Click here to read the full response.