Fraudsters may have their sights set on American companies.
New research by the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) found that almost three-quarters (73 percent) of U.S. businesses were targets for payments fraud last year. The “2016 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey,” which gauged the attitudes and behaviors of 627 treasury and finance professionals, showed that business email compromise (BEC) scams are increasingly common, subsequently causing instances of wire fraud to skyrocket.
“Let there be no doubt: Payments fraud is an enormous challenge for all organizations,” Jim Kaitz, president and chief executive officer of AFP, said in a press release. “One of the toughest payments fraud challenges we are seeing is BEC scams, which are growing increasingly sophisticated and successfully infiltrating email systems at numerous organizations.”
The Association for Financial Professionals released the results of its annual survey on Tuesday (March 29) and noted that many of the professionals surveyed are heavily relying on EMV chip cards to put a dent in payments fraud. Nearly 90 percent reported their belief that criminals will migrate their efforts to other payment methods if chip cards can help to cut down on fraud, an increase of 10 percentage points since 2014.
“Each year, payments and cyberfraud schemes grow in sophistication, and knowing how to recognize and manage these threats is critical to protecting your organization,” said Nancy McDonnell, managing director and treasury executive for JPMorgan. “Investing in the appropriate data protection tools, infrastructure controls and employee education is essential for all businesses.”
