Money & Finance › Payments & money movement › Payment rails: how money moves from account to account
Payment fraud: check, wire, card and app scams
· Fraud or scheme
Fact, law or dataA rule, statute, definition or measured number.
Theft through payment systems, from washed checks and fake wire instructions to stolen card numbers and payment-app scams.
See it on the Money & Finance map →How it works
Two patterns. Unauthorized payments: thieves use stolen cards, checks or logins; the victim never agreed, so card and ACH rules usually shift losses to banks or merchants. Authorized push payments: the victim is tricked into sending money by wire, Zelle or crypto; the payment is valid and final, so losses usually stay with the victim. Rule changes followed: the 2015 chip-card liability shift, Nacha's 2026 monitoring rules, UK refunds since 2024. The FBI logged $16.6 billion in reported internet-crime losses in 2024.
Why it matters
Knowing which rail protects whom tells a business where to add controls: Positive Pay for checks, call-back checks on new wire instructions, dual approval for vendor changes.
Facts, rules and data
FBI IC3 annual reports, FTC Consumer Sentinel data (consumers reported $12.5 billion lost in 2024), FinCEN alerts, and Association for Financial Professionals fraud surveys.
Debates and risks
True losses are unknown because much fraud goes unreported, and how much is run by organized rings abroad is estimated, not measured.
Inside this (2)
Connections (3)
▸Check fraud: mail theft, 'check washing' and Positive Pay is a fast-growing form of Payment fraud: check, wire, card and app scamsFact, law or data
The connection
Check fraud is the oldest payment fraud and grew fastest after 2020, as mail theft and mobile deposit let thieves wash or counterfeit checks and cash them through mule accounts. Because checks show account and routing numbers in plain sight, one stolen check can expose an account to further fraud.
When and why
Across the US, surging in 2021–23; FinCEN and the Postal Inspection Service issued an alert in February 2023.
How we know
FinCEN suspicious-activity report counts, which nearly doubled from 2021 to 2022, and Postal Inspection Service data.
Debates and risks
Whether the shift away from checks will shrink this fraud or move the same rings to other rails is unclear.
▸Payment fraud: check, wire, card and app scams exploits every one of the Payment rails: how money moves from account to accountFact, law or data
The connection
Each rail has a weak point: checks expose account numbers, ACH debits rely on authorizations that can be forged, wires and instant payments are final, and cards can be copied or used online. Fraud moves to whichever rail has the weakest controls, and rule-makers respond rail by rail.
When and why
Across US payment systems; rule changes include the October 2015 chip-card liability shift and Nacha's 2026 fraud-monitoring rules.
How we know
AFP payment-fraud surveys and FBI IC3 and FTC data broken down by payment method.
Debates and risks
Whether banks sharing fraud data in real time, as the UK and Australia are building, can stop scams before money leaves is still being tested.
▸Business email compromise: fake wire instructions is among the costliest forms of Payment fraud: check, wire, card and app scamsFact, law or data
The connection
BEC rarely needs hacking skill, just a spoofed email and a believable invoice. Yet each theft is large because business payments are large. The FBI counted about $2.8 billion in reported BEC losses in 2024, second only to investment fraud among the cybercrimes it tracks.
When and why
US and worldwide; the FBI's IC3 received over 21,000 BEC complaints in 2024.
How we know
FBI IC3 annual reports and Justice Department prosecutions of BEC rings.
Debates and risks
Reported losses likely understate the total, since many companies settle quietly or never report.