It’s a Chimed Life®: Meet Alex Fiolek, Analyst, Fraud Investigations

It’s a Chimed Life^®: Meet Alex Fiolek, Analyst, Fraud investigations

Finding her groove: How Chime analyst Alex Fiolek went from the music industry to preventing fraud before it starts

Some people follow a straight path in their careers. For Alex Fiolek (she/her), the road to fraud prevention was anything but expected—but it turned out to be the right one. 

In honor of Pride month, we sat down with Alex to learn more about her career in fraud prevention and get some valuable advice on how to shine at work. 

Q: Tell us a little about your career journey. How did you end up in fraud prevention?

Alex: Honestly, this is not where I thought I’d be. I got my degree in Music Industry Management, and I was laser-focused on working in music for most of my life. I spent college working live shows, handling artist hospitality, and interning in Nashville. After graduating, I landed a customer service role at Reverb, an online music gear marketplace, which still felt connected to music.

It was while I was at Reverb—and after I’d discovered that customer service wasn’t for me—that an internal opening popped up for a Fraud Prevention Specialist. I didn’t know the first thing about it, but I decided to apply. I got the job, but at first, I didn’t feel connected to the work. I kept thinking I was getting further and further away from what I thought I was supposed to be doing: music. 

For so long, I imagined every version of my possible future doing one thing, but eventually, I began to let go of that expectation. Once I let go of my expectations and dove in, something clicked—and I fell in love with fraud prevention. I started going to fraud prevention meetups, listening to podcasts, diving into scam typologies—and I got hooked. The more I learned, the more fascinated I became. I realized I could help people in really meaningful ways. 

Q: What do you love about working in fraud prevention?

Alex: I love that no day is the same. There’s always some new scam, fraud ring, or tactic to uncover. That constant change keeps me on my toes and makes the work feel fresh.

Plus, I’ve always been kind of obsessed with solving mysteries—growing up, I was glued to the show Catfish. Now, I get to do that in real life, digging into social media and transaction patterns to get to the bottom of suspicious activity. And what really keeps me going is knowing I’m helping protect our members. It makes the work feel real and impactful.

What’s more, we’re always developing new and innovative ways to tackle fraud at Chime, such as through our proprietary artificial intelligence and machine learning models, which have helped reduce our fraud loss rates. Our fraud loss fell by 29% between 2022 and 2025 thanks to a lot of this work.

Q: What’s your day-to-day like at Chime?

Alex: I spend most of my day reviewing sample sets from teams across enrollment, authentication, scams, and more. We’re constantly looking for fraud trends or logic gaps where we can step in and improve our defenses.

We also get a front-row seat to the real impact fraud has on people’s lives by listening to member calls and reviewing emails, which makes it all come to life—it’s so much more than data. Our members motivate me to dig deeper and find ways to help prevent these scams before they happen.

Q: What makes your approach to your work unique?

Alex: I never want to silo myself into just one area of fraud. My goal is to stay proficient in as many fraud typologies as possible. Right now, I’m part of a subset of the team focused on account takeovers and authentication, but I don’t stop there. I want to be someone my team can turn to with any kind of question.

Q: What have you learned since joining Chime?

Alex: So much—especially technically. Before joining, I didn’t know SQL at all. But from the start, I was paired with a mentor who does one-on-one SQL lessons with me every few weeks. It’s been an incredible experience.

Beyond the technical skills, I’ve gained a ton of confidence. The culture here is so supportive—my ideas are heard, and I feel like I actually contribute to big-picture decisions. That’s a powerful thing.

Q: Any career advice for people early in their journey?

Alex: Don’t box yourself in. It’s easy to get stuck thinking, “This is my job and nothing more.” But growth comes from stepping outside of that. Be curious. Learn everything you can, even if it’s outside your immediate responsibilities. Boundaries are important, of course—but so is being open.