DirecTV

Orchestrate an Integrated Anti-Fraud Strategy

When Fraud Is the Symptom and Silos Are the Disease

DirecTV was losing customers and revenue to sophisticated fraud schemes, but the biggest obstacle wasn't the fraudsters—it was a broken coordination gap between the two teams built to stop them.

DirecTV operates in a fragmented delivery ecosystem where marketers, installers, and broadcast operators each touch the customer relationship. This creates gaps that organized fraud rings know how to exploit through identity theft, fraudulent credit card use, and coordinated billing abuse. Two departments existed to fight back, but they weren't fighting together. We were brought in to solve what looked like a fraud problem, but was at its core a strategic alignment problem.

Management Pro Role

We engaged 25 senior managers and analysts across both departments in a structured series of LogFrame planning workshops. The work was direct and demanding, as teams clarified what success actually looked like and built shared metrics instead of competing scorecards. They mapped where handoffs were failing, where accountability was assumed, and where risks fell into the space between departments. We applied practical tools to real operational decisions.

Outcomes

Outcomes followed, and cross-functional coordination improved measurably. The company saw documented increases in fraud detection and reductions in customer churn tied to service failures. Multiple high-profile fraud operations were identified and handed to the FBI with the kind of documented, cross-verified evidence that holds up in federal court.

Lessons Learned

Outcomes like this don't happen by accident; they happen when teams share goals, accountability, and a rigorous plan. The fraud rings didn't get smarter; DirecTV got better organized. Fraud thrives in organizational seams, and the answer isn't more vigilance. It's better design upstream, before gaps become vulnerabilities.