Modernizing Check Fraud Detection Blog

Midsize businesses are modernizing payments while checks remain part of the mix. Real-time monitoring, AI, and layered controls are reshaping fraud prevention. Financial institutions can help stop suspicious checks before customers lose funds. How are midsize business leaders feeling about fraud in 2026? According to Citizens' 2026 Payment Trends Report, ...

Download PDF Copy of the Newsletter Checks Aren't Going Away. And That's Not a Bad Thing. Every few years, someone in the payments industry declares the paper check dead. And every few years, the data disagrees. According to a study from the Atlanta Federal Reserve, as much as 83% of small firms ...

Money mules are a critical operational link in fraud and money laundering, including check fraud. Many mules are recruited through social media and job scams, and some do not realize they are committing a crime. Banks need connected intelligence, continuous monitoring, customer education, and layered check fraud technology to reduce ...

Fraud is moving faster as criminals use AI to scale attacks and exploit gaps in traditional controls. Fintechs and financial institutions are responding with layered AI strategies that combine identity verification, behavioral analytics, biometrics, and shared intelligence. Check fraud is a strong example of why AI matters because detection now ...

Check fraud is seasonal, with the biggest spikes tied to tax season. While the administration has eliminate most check disbursements, the IRS continues to accept paper check payments Different technologies are needed to detect check fraud Fraud rarely stands still. It follows volume, behavior shifts, and operational blind spots. Even ...

Agentic AI shifts fraud teams from reviewing alerts to supervising AI-driven investigations and focusing on high-risk, complex cases. AI can streamline check fraud investigations by gathering evidence across multiple systems and presenting investigators with complete, actionable case summaries. Intelligent Banking connects fraud, payments and core banking data, enabling AI to ...

Download PDF Copy of the Newsletter FinCEN Strongly Encouraging Data Sharing to Fight Fraud Recently, we posted about warnings from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that fraudsters thrive when FIs aren't sharing data. The IMF argued that AI and machine learning work best when they have access to large, diverse datasets, and that fragmented, ...

The STOP Payments Fraud Act gives banks more time to investigate suspicious payments. Extended holds on flagged checks and wires balance fraud prevention with faster availability. Banks must update policies, technology, and workflows to fully leverage the longer review window. PYMNTS recently highlighted a new House bill that could quietly ...

Check fraud has surged, with deposit fraud up roughly fourfold since pre‑pandemic levels. Criminals increasingly steal and resell mailed checks via dark‑web markets. Banks and businesses now rely on image forensic AI and behavioral analytics to flag fraudulent checks early. Summer is here, and everyone is talking about SPF. But, ...