As we enter mid 2025, finance leaders face a sobering reality; payment fraud is a risk and an inevitable threat, and it is more advanced than ever. With the rise of AI scams, deepfake social engineering, and synthetic vendors, schemes are more complex and losses are harder to recover. For finance leaders, businesses are more vulnerable, and slower manual finance operations are no longer defensible.
Understanding and Combating Payment Fraud Risks
At Zanbio, we understand the stakes. Let's unpack the most critical payment fraud types that companies like yours must watch for in 2025, and how to stay protected with intelligent automation.
- Business Email Compromise (BEC)
BEC now uses AI-generated emails and voice deepfakes to impersonate C-level executives. Fake payment requests often bypass internal checks, especially in companies still relying on email-based approvals.
Risk: Manual invoice approvals are highly susceptible. Manual processes contribute up to 40% of the reconciliation process, and that is additional time for scammers to attack. Imagine a fake invoice from an attacker pretending to be one of your vendors. If manual cross-checking and approval by your team takes 3–5 days (instead of a real-time automated check), the attacker may go unnoticed, and the payment may be sent before someone even knows it is a scam.
- Fake Vendor Creation & Invoice Fraud
Fraudsters register fake vendors or manipulate existing supplier details to redirect payments. Without real-time verification or tracking, even experienced finance teams can fall prey.
Risk: Manual vendor management and invoicing slow down collections and open the door for errors and bad data.
- Deep Phishing and Account Takeover
Cybercriminals are getting into finance portals using stolen or phished credentials, then conducting unauthorized transactions disguised as valid ones. This is prevalent in global enterprises with multiple banking platforms.
Risk: Unidentified high-risk accounts are a top concern, yet many companies still fail to detect anomalies until it’s too late.
- Payment Diversions Scams in Vendor Communications
Scammers are now targeting finance teams by pretending to be vendors via email and requesting changes to banking details during a scheduled payment. Without proper verification processes or system-based alerts, payments end up going to the scammers' accounts.
Risk: Manual AP processes often lack audit trails and fail to verify last-minute vendor data changes. This makes it easier for social engineering tactics to succeed, especially when your team is juggling hundreds of invoices.
- Synthetic Identity Fraud in B2B
Fraudsters now craft fully artificial business entities, complete with digital footprints, to infiltrate enterprise supplier ecosystems. Once registered, they request goods or credit and disappear.
How Zanbio Can Help You Detect Fraud
At Zanbio, we don’t just automate; we safeguard. Our AI-powered AR and AP automation solutions are designed to not only improve efficiency but also detect and prevent payment fraud before it impacts your business. Here’s how we help your business stay protected:
- 30% fewer fraud vulnerabilities, by eliminating manual approval gaps and securing vendor communication
- Real-time detection, using behavioral scoring and historical data to flag transactions
- Full visibility into every invoice, from creation to payment, ensuring clear audit trails
- 25% boost in productivity, with automated vendor verification, your team can prevent fake vendors early without hard hassle.
Book a call with our experts to see how we can elevate your finance operations and fraud protection, all within 12 months.
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