Ep. 598 Understanding Payment Fraud: Common Risks and Tools to Protect Your Business

Rancho Mesa’s Alyssa Burley and Client Technology Specialist, Brenda Colby sit down to talk about Payment Fraud and how you can protect your business.

Show Notes: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to Rancho Mesa's Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠, Register for Fleet Safety Workshop

Host: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Alyssa Burley

Guest: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Brenda Colby

Editor: Jadyn Brandt

Music: "Home" by JHS Pedals, “Breaking News Intro” by nem0production

© Copyright 2026. Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

Transcript

Alyssa Burley: You’re listening to Rancho Mesa’s StudioOne™ podcast, where each week we break down complex insurance and safety topics to help your business thrive.  I’m your host, Alyssa Burley, and I’m joined by Brenda Colby, Client Technology Specialist with Rancho Mesa, and we’re going to talk about Payment Fraud and how you can protect your business.

Brenda, welcome to the show.

Brenda Colby: Thanks Alyssa, happy to be here.

AB: So Brenda, it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone listening that payment fraud is a serious threat to companies, no matter their size, industry, or location. But there’s plenty of data out there that emphasizes why protecting your business from this type of risk is so important. Will you talk about what the data shows, and the types of payments are the highest risk?

BC: Absolutely. So the Association for Financial Professionals (or AFP) reports 79% of organizations they surveyed in 2024 reported, having been victims of payment fraud attacks or attempts.

And the same survey found check fraud to be the most common fraudulent payment method with 63% of respondents reporting their organization dealt with some form of check fraud in that same year.

AB: That seems like a significant number of businesses that have been affected by fraudulent checks. But, that’s not the only type of payment fraud that businesses are dealing with. There is also something called business email compromise (or BEC) that are also a threat to payment security. So what do we know about those types of scams that can compromise payments?

BC: So, BEC scams, like phishing attacks commonly include impersonation of a senior executive, vendors or a third-party. These scams use falsified identity to gain access to sensitive information including passwords, bank information, or credit card numbers. Wire transfers were reported as the payment type most vulnerable to BEC.

AB: Alright, so what are some ways that organizations can protect themselves from payment fraud and compromised emails?

BC: Well the most effective fraud protection strategies start within your company. That means providing employees with proper training. When employees know how to spot BEC scam tactics, they are less likely to share sensitive information and put the organization at risk. Cybersecurity Awareness trainings are available through Rancho Mesa’s RM365 HRAdvantage™ portal. And, on Friday, May 1st, 2026 from 9:00 am to 9:30 am we’ll be hosting a webinar focused on Fraud Protection & Smart Payment Strategies.

AB: Yeah, and we’ll have a link to register for that webinar in the episode notes.

So Brenda, if listeners have questions about accessing our HR portal training resources for cybersecurity awareness, what’s the best way to get in touch with you?

BC: As always, clients can contact me at bcolby@ranchomesa.com or call me directly at (619) 486-6562.

AB: Alright, well Brenda, thank you for joining me in StudioOne.

BC: Thanks for having me.

AB: Thanks for tuning in to our latest episode produced by StudioOne. If you enjoyed what you heard, please share this episode and subscribe. For more insights like this, visit us at ranchomesa.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter.