Businesses Move Fraud Checks Ahead of Payments

“Prevention First: Building a Smarter Defense Against Payments Fraud” is a PYMNTS Intelligence report produced in collaboration with Bottomline. It draws on a July 2026 survey of 150 U.S. treasury and finance executives at companies with at least $100 million in annual revenue.

We’d love to be your preferred source for news.

Please add us to your preferred sources list so our news, data and interviews show up in your feed. Thanks!

Add as Preferred Source

In “Prevention First: Building a Smarter Defense Against Payments Fraud,” learn how:

• Paper checks still create losses. More than one-third of firms have experienced check fraud. Nearly half say checks account for at least 10% of their losses from outgoing-payment fraud.
• Confidence in manual reviews may slow change. Among firms that don’t use AI to detect fraud, 55% say their manual checks already work well enough. The report compares that view with the experience of firms using AI tools.
• Payment defenses are set to expand. Among firms that don’t yet use AI to detect fraud, 58% say they’re putting it in place now or plan to do so within 12 months.

For treasury and finance teams, the challenge starts long before a payment is sent. A supplier must be checked, bank details must be confirmed, and an unusual request must reach the right person for review. Each step takes work. Skipping one can give a convincing scam the opening it needs.

The report examines the threats firms face when paying suppliers and the steps they take to stop fraudulent payments. It also explores what happens when businesses add AI tools to the checks their teams already perform. Those findings give finance leaders a clearer view of where technology may help and where people still need to make the call.

There’s a practical reason to read it now: Businesses are planning changes to how they check suppliers and payments. The survey shows which improvements are drawing the most attention and how firms are preparing for the next wave of fraud attempts.

Download the report to see the data and find ideas for protecting your company’s outgoing payments.

About the Report

“Prevention First: Building a Smarter Defense Against Payments Fraud” is based on a PYMNTS Intelligence survey of 150 U.S. treasury and finance executives, fielded in July 2026. Respondents work at firms with at least $100 million in annual revenue and are responsible for or knowledgeable about how their organization defends the payments it sends out to vendors and suppliers. The report examines payables fraud only, meaning fraud tied to outbound payments, and does not cover receivables. Firm size and sector comparisons split the sample into revenue bands and industry groups covering tech, services and goods sectors. The AI-user comparison splits the sample by whether a firm uses AI or machine learning for fraud detection, with 65 firms classified as users and 85 as non-users.