Women in Fraud: January 2026

For LaShonna Sharp, curiosity wasn’t a luxury. It was survival.

She entered the workforce early, without the option of college, and landed in insurance where she was asked to help investigate internal agent fraud. What could have been just another task became something else entirely.

“It felt like investigation,” she told me. “You’re digging. You’re looking for patterns. You’re trying to figure out what doesn’t make sense.”

That instinct — the need to understand why — never left her. Telecom. Emerging tech. Financial services. Different industries, same muscle. Fraud, she learned, belongs to people who keep asking questions long after others move on.

“If you don’t ask ‘I wonder why,’ you won’t be successful in fraud,” she said. “Because fraud changes. You don’t answer that question once. You answer it over and over again.”

That mindset eventually led her into work focused on underbanked populations — a space that challenged assumptions and reshaped how she thinks about intent. Most people aren’t bad actors. Many are navigating limited options. The real damage comes from those who exploit that vulnerability.

Context matters. Who you’re protecting matters. And fraud prevention, when done well, reflects that.

LaShonna is quick to point out that most organizations don’t suffer from a lack of data — they suffer from a lack of understanding. Fraud isn’t generic. Insurance fraud isn’t banking fraud. Payments fraud isn’t medical fraud. When teams rely on tools or partners that don’t understand the industry itself, even good models break down.

Technology has transformed what’s possible — cloud data, machine learning, behavioral analytics — but she’s clear that yesterday’s methods won’t keep up. Image-only detection, especially in check fraud, simply isn’t enough anymore. Fraudsters adapt. Teams have to move faster.

And yet, the human cost of fraud never fades into the background for her. Romance scams. Mail fraud. Elderly victims losing life-changing sums late in life. Those stories stay with you.

When I asked what advice, she’d give to someone entering fraud today, her answer was practical and earned: learn the tech — AI, ML, analytics are table stakes — but don’t confuse tools with success. Fraud rewards curiosity, persistence, and people who will “dog the bone” until something gives.

If her career were a biography, she already has the title picked out: The Woodpecker. Not flashy. Just relentless. Momentum turns curiosity into impact.

Some careers begin with a plan; others open like a door you didn’t realize you were already walking through. For Ambar Vitelli, it was the latter — a path that started with English literature and Latin before pulling her into the world of innovation, fintech, and bank transformation.

Her early roles exposed her to what she calls “innovation theater” — ideas that looked powerful on stage but rarely became anything meaningful. She wanted the part that came after the pitch: outcomes, delivery, real change. That shift happened when she met Naya One founder Karan Jain, who had lived the very problem he set out to solve. Their first conversation made the decision easy. She interviewed within hours and joined within a week. Four years later, she still centers her work on one question: What impact does this create?

Ambar is clear-eyed about what separates true innovation from performance. It isn’t the buzzwords — it’s whether people can influence, collaborate, and execute at the same pace. She’s seen how quickly the truth surfaces when big promises are tested in real conditions.

One moment that stuck with her came while helping a North American bank evaluate biometric and deepfake-resistant authentication tools. Every vendor sounded impressive. But watching those systems run through synthetic stress tests — including one created from a blend of her own face — revealed what marketing can’t. It’s the kind of vantage point that strips away theater and leaves only what works.

When asked why so many women excel in fraud, Ambar’s answer lands with clarity. Fraud rewards attention, instinct, and the ability to notice what others overlook — qualities women are often told they have “too much” of. In this field, those tendencies become strengths.

“In fraud, nothing is small,” she said. “Being deeply attuned isn’t an overreaction — it’s a strength.”

On pushing limits — and helping others push theirs, her advice to young women entering fintech or fraud is straightforward: don’t shrink your ambition before anyone else has the chance to. Ask for what you want. Look for mentors who push you, including the ones who don’t look or think like you. Growth often happens in the rooms that feel slightly intimidating.

Her life outside of work reflects the same instinct for forward motion. Polo, horses, marathons, football, Pilates — she’s drawn to anything that demands presence and speed. "I’m motivated by momentum.” she said, “And I’ll push through.”

And when it comes to finding support, she keeps it simple: reach out with a clear ask. Most people want to help; they just need to know how.

If her life were a movie… This is the question I close every interview with. Based on everything she shared, this edition’s title would be: “Run Toward the Hard Thing.” Spend ten minutes with her and the choice makes perfect sense.