The fraud wave – employers beware of increased payroll fraud

The fraud wave – employers beware of increased payroll fraud

Business, Payroll / eTorQue

Global stats show an increased level of fraud. Virgin Active, Transnet and the Department of Justice have been hit with expensive ransomware attacks.

We are also seeing an increase in the number of sophisticated frauds in the payroll space. In the past these were reasonably easy to identify, but recently they have become harder to identify. Employers please be aware. Put in place good processes and train your staff.

A recent example at a client illustrates this point…

For their August payroll they changed an employee’s banking details in their payroll system based on an email request from one of their employee’s personal email addresses. It even had a very authentic bank letter attached. Post payroll the employee called to say that their salary had not been deposited into their bank account. The employer immediately realised that they had been the victim of identity fraud. They will be lucky to get their money back.

Please contact us at [email protected] if you would like to chat about ways to identify and mitigate various types of payroll fraud including:

  • How to identify fictitious employees
  • How to validate banking details before payment
  • How to reduce the risk of fraudulent requests
  • What to watch out for in your payroll