The study also mentioned that a staggering 96% of all US-based businesses were targeted by at least one fraud attempt in 2023, while 90% of these companies fell victims of at least one successful fraud attack. The proprietary research was conducted by Trustpair on more than 260 senior finance and treasury leaders and has shown a rise in all fraudulent activity, from hacking and deepfakes to voice cloning and sophisticated phishing schemes.
The company’s report, ‘Fraud in the Cyber Era: 2024 Fraud Trends and Insights’ shows that fraudsters are becoming more sophisticated in their tactics targeting US businesses and expand their reach to consider attacking new targets, while finding their way in new channels to infiltrate organisations. Trustpair’s CEO mentions that there is an increased need to automate bank account validations and embed them into daily processes, as vendor payment frauds spike.
Fraudsters mainly use text messages (50%), fake websites (48%), social media (37%), hacking (31%), scams (31), and deepfakes (11%) to target organisations, which means companies’ dedicated fraud teams must stay vigilant and deploy the latest fraud detection and prevention techniques to deter attacks.
According to the survey, 36% of companies claim that the average financial loss of a successful fraud attack they experienced amasses more than USD 1 million, while 25% of them mentioned a financial loss of over USD 5 million.
However, dealing with fraudsters doesn’t only cut funds off businesses but also sets a dangerous precedent and can heavily impact the trust of other organisations in the one targeted. In fact, 75% of C-level executives and treasury leaders mentioned they would stop doing business with an organisation that fell victim to payment fraud. A company that deals with successful fraud attacks will also lose the confidence of its customers (51%), investors (50%), and suppliers and vendors (45%).
The study mentions that 67% of US companies expect payment fraud to rise further in 2024 but most of them are not prepared to face attacks, with only 16% of them claiming they regularly clean and monitor their vendors’ database. Moreover, just 28% verify the information on the companies they work with even though scammers are most likely to impersonate credible vendors or create false ones and fake wire transfers.
The good news is that, regardless of their size, companies now begin to realise the value of automation when successfully fighting fraud. 34% of all businesses say they use automated account validation tools to validate vendors. On the opposite pole, 38% of organisations still rely on manual account validations, which can further complicate and slow down fraud prevention.
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