Fraud counterattack: Protecting your business from threats

Financial scams and fraud continue to be a significant issue for businesses of all sizes. Advanced tools such as artificial intelligence are being integrated into fraudster playbooks along with the more traditional approaches like check fraud.

In a recent webinar, Fraud Counterattack: How to Protect Your Business from Financial Threats, fraud authorities from First Citizens and McKinsey shared a number of tactics that can help you defend your business from today's biggest financial scams and frauds. We'll look at a range of fraud-fighting tools and controls you can add to your arsenal.

How to launch your defense strategy

An effective fraud management playbook is made up of several critical elements working in concert. The goal is to mitigate the fraud risks to your business without negatively affecting the customer experience.

To help you develop and implement your defense strategy, we'll examine the benefits of a range of bank-provided resources, internal controls and procedures, and the establishment of a comprehensive disaster recovery plan. Adding these four components to your fraud playbook can help you shore up your defense.

1Protect your business with bank-provided fraud fighting tools

There are several financial tools available that are easily implemented through your bank that can combat fraud attempts proactively. Results from the 2025 Payments Fraud and Control Survey Report conducted by the Association for Financial Professionals, or AFP®, show which fraud prevention tools have been effective for many organizations.

Tools to protect your business from financial threats

In our Fraud Counterattack webinar, panelist Kristen Saranteas, treasury management services executive at First Citizens, shares about how these banking tools can strengthen your fraud protection program.

2Establish controls to mitigate external fraud

To reduce your exposure to fraud from external sources, consider including some of these methods in your fraud program:

• Ask your accounting firm to conduct periodic audits to uncover any account anomalies that your internal team may have missed.
• Ensure that your IT team is keeping your hardware and software up to date with the latest security updates and patches.
• Maintain the safekeeping of confidential information, files and checks with a document management policy.
• Ensure your company's financial information and procedures are fully documented and communicated to key staff members who restore your systems in case of a successful financial attack.
• Engage outside professionals to test all external controls set up at your business.

3Implement procedures to protect against internal fraud

Another area for fraud to occur is within your organization. Internal fraud typically occurs when an employee is subject to these three elements:

1. Pressure: When the employee is feeling financial pressure outside of work
2. Opportunity: When the fraud in question wouldn't be discovered quickly and easily
3. Rationalization: When the employee feels they can justify the theft as temporary or pass off as a loan that they plan to repay

To address instances of internal fraud at your business, consider the following guidelines:

• Stay up to date on your system security
  • Observe and pursue unusual behavior and transactions
  • Focus on procedures related to Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable functions
  • Perform daily reconciliation of accounts
  • Move away from paper-based transactions
  • Move to cloud-based storage options
• Establish or enhance your employee controls
  • Segregate duties and approval levels, allowing for checks and balances
  • Put in place hiring procedures that integrate fraud training and protocols
  • Frequently test your established processes
  • Institute a company fraud hotline

4Establish a disaster recovery plan that includes fraud recovery measures

Having a well-documented plan prepared before any type of catastrophe occurs allows you to execute your recovery without making impulsive or emotional decisions. A key part of any plan is ensuring you have a team of trusted advisors in place to ensure damage of any sort can be addressed in a prompt and orderly fashion when disasters or financial fraud take place.

Essential members of your disaster recovery planning team include:

• An attorney to protect your interests and address legal issues that occur
• An accountant who will work together with your forensic accounting team to trace transactions
• Your bank relationship manager who will work closely with their treasury management partner to safeguard your business accounts
• An insurance professional who will ensure that you have sufficient financial protection in the case of disaster
• Key company leadership, including members of your executive management team, to ensure company goals, values and metrics are considered throughout the recovery process

“Each professional included in your disaster recovery plan will give you a vantage point of what they've seen in the industry and their unique vision of what protection looks like," explains Saranteas.

To ensure your business is fully prepared, your disaster recovery plan should also be reviewed and refreshed periodically to ensure any critical organizational changes are addressed in advance.

What to do if fraud does occur

Of course, even with a comprehensive fraud plan in place, there's always a risk that your business will become a victim of fraud. For example, according to the 2025 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey Report, 79% of organizations were targets of either an actual or attempted fraud attack in 2024. Given this percentage, it pays to be prepared to execute your fraud counterattack.

If you discover that your business has experienced fraud, quickly take action.

• Implement your disaster recovery plan.
• Call law enforcement after checking with legal counsel.
• Don't have your IT personnel attempt to locate any systems problems.
• Implement new controls.

It's important to note that, although counterintuitive, using your own IT personnel to locate vulnerabilities in your company network after an incident may severely compromise your investigation. Instead, you should employ outside forensics services to investigate the issue using an image of your network so no evidence is altered or compromised.

The bottom line

There are a variety of practical steps you can take to protect your business from financial harm. The fraud fighting tools and strategies we've reviewed here can help you build a robust defense. By developing and implementing a comprehensive fraud management plan, you'll have the resources needed to address financial threats as they occur.