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A survey revealed that more than 80 percent of organizations – including financial institutions and other businesses – suffered from payments fraud in 2018. Fraud was also more common among larger institutions: 87 percent of those with revenue more than $1 billion experienced fraud compared to 69 percent of those with less revenue.

In addition, business email compromise (BEC) scams increased last year, with more than half reporting financial losses as a result. BEC scams are used to gain access to a business email account and imitate the owner's identity in an effort to defraud a company.

While checks are most likely to be impacted by fraud, organizations reporting check fraud continues to decline. Fraud activity related to ACH debit and credit is on the rise.

The report, released by the Association for Financial Professionals and sponsored by J.P. Morgan, included responses from more than 600 treasury and finance professionals.

For those interested in fraud prevention resources, tomorrow, the Federal Reserve is offering a webinar on synthetic identity payments fraud. NAFCU also has fraud and cybersecurity compliance resources available online.

NAFCU continues to engage with the Fed regarding its work to make the payments system faster and more secure and has met with Fed staff to discuss the strategy for achieving more secure payments. The association in December shared how credit unions could benefit from faster payments services. 

The Fed has also launched a group among industry stakeholders aimed at improving payments security; learn more about the Fed's payments priorities here.