The Covid-19 pandemic changed a lot in terms of how we live, travel, and—in many cases—work. Organizations around the world mandated that many employees work remotely, which required companies to alter processes and procedures. One of the impacted processes was payments.

Less face-to-face interaction meant employees were requesting sensitive information and verifying payment requests or transactions via email or other virtual forms of communication. Many finance industry observers expected fraudsters to make the most of this situation, targeting remote employees with new and expanded payments fraud ploys. However, findings from the "2022 AFP Payments Fraud Survey" suggest that working remotely did not play a significant role in the incidence of payments fraud observed at organizations in 2021.

Our survey found that 47 percent of respondents did not see an increase in payments fraud at their organizations due to the increased prevalence of remote work. Thirty-two percent of respondents do believe an increase in payments fraud at their companies is the result of employees working remotely.