There are a wide range of fraud tactics targeting businesses globally. As the financial fraud landscape continues to evolve, we see a wide range of fraud tactics impacting businesses globally. The most common are business email compromise,  fake invoices, unauthorised or duplicate payments, fictitious vendors, expense reimbursement fraud, and manipulated approvals.

Lets look at some of the most common types of financial fraud:

1. Business email compromise: Scammers use email to trick businesses into sending money or sensitive information to fraudulent accounts. This often involves impersonating a trusted figure, such as a CFO or CEO, vendor, or colleague, often through a spoofed or hacked email account.

2. Fake invoice scam:  The scammer sends a fraudulent bill, often posing as a legitimate vendor, to trick a business into paying money to a bogus account.

3. Unauthorised, duplicate payment: This involves tricking a company into making multiple or unapproved payments, even when goods and services were never received, or asked for.

4. Fictitious vendor scam: This is when fraudsters create a fake supplier and submitting made up invoices to trick a company into paying for goods or services that were never delivered.

5. Expense reimbursement fraud: When an employee submits false or inflated claims for personal expenses as if they were legitimate business costs to receive unwarranted reimbursement.

6. Manipulated approvals: Altering or faking authorisation processes to fraudulently approve payments, purchases, or access without proper oversight.

Scary, right? Scammers exploit weaknesses in internal processes. Because of this, it’s vital to have a thorough understanding of how you can protect yourself and your business with stronger financial controls.