Annual survey reveals 58% believe fraudsters evolve faster than humans respond, yet many finance executives still depend on manual validation

AI-powered fraud has outpaced human defenses at an alarming rate, according to new data from Trustpair. Seventy-one percent of U.S. companies have seen attacks accelerate over the past year, yet 48% still rely on manual checks to stop them.

Developed with corporate practitioners and experts from Kinexys by J.P.Morgan, Fraud in the Cyber Era: 2026 Fraud Trends & Insights surveyed 250 CFOs and senior finance executives at U.S. enterprises, revealing a dangerous gap between the speed and scale of AI-powered attacks and the manual processes companies still use to defend against them.

“AI has raised the baseline of fraud. The risk keeps increasing, but internal processes haven’t moved fast enough,” said Baptiste Collot, co-founder and CEO of Trustpair. “It’s not that companies don’t want to act. They often don’t know how to, or think it means changing everything at once. The reality is that manual callbacks and email checks simply cannot defend against attacks that are generated at scale.”

Key findings:

• 71% of U.S. companies have experienced an increase in AI-powered fraud attempts over the past 12 months, and nearly half of finance leaders (47%) say AI-generated fraud is now one of their biggest challenges in fraud prevention.

• Business Email Compromise (BEC) remains the leading fraud channel, affecting 62% of organizations, followed by fake websites (48%) and text message scams (45%).

• Companies relying primarily on manual validation decreased from 69% to 48% year-over-year. However, nearly half of organizations still depend on human reviews and manual checks that cannot handle the scale of AI attacks.

• One in four companies reported six-figure losses due to fraud, 45% spent multiple days responding to a single incident, and 17% have had to terminate employees due to fraud-related mistakes.

Enterprises Face Increased Fraud Pressures

Trustpair's report identifies converging threats impacting enterprises: rising regulatory pressure, faster payment operations, and more sophisticated attacks.

Underlying these pressures is a structural weakness. Vendor data remains siloed across systems, is validated sporadically, and becomes outdated quickly, creating vulnerabilities that fraudsters readily exploit. Only 32% of companies validate vendor bank account details continuously or in real-time, leaving most organizations exposed between onboarding and payment.

As regulatory compliance demands intensify, speed and accuracy matter more than ever. Nacha's March 2026 requirements will mandate upfront account validation, compounding existing internal control expectations, such as SOX compliance. Alarmingly, nearly half of companies (45%) aren't aware of these upcoming Nacha rules, and 13% report having no vendor bank-account validation process at all.

Modernization is Underway as Automation Grows

While challenges remain significant, Trustpair's research reveals encouraging signs of progress. Half of companies increased fraud prevention budgets in 2025, and adoption of automated account validation tools rose slightly (31% to 34%).

Training remains important for enhancing awareness, but as fraud escalates, organizations are turning to automation and continuous validation to reduce human error and strengthen controls without compromising operational efficiency. Embedding these checks into existing finance and procurement processes is critical to enhancing security without adding friction.

To access the report’s findings and learn how enterprises can modernize fraud defenses ahead of upcoming regulatory requirements, download the full report.

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About Methodology

Trustpair commissioned Dynata to conduct an online survey of 250 senior financial decision-makers at U.S. companies with annual revenues of $500 million or more. Respondents included C-suite executives and other senior leaders in accounting and finance functions with purchasing authority or influence. The survey was fielded in November 2025 with an estimated incidence rate of 30%.

About Trustpair

Created in 2017, Trustpair empowers large global companies to eliminate vendor payment fraud with a market-leading account validation platform. Trustpair serves over 500 corporate and enterprise customers, helping finance teams protect against fraud attacks. The company’s global presence includes offices in New York City, Paris, and London, with 100+ employees dedicated to payment security. Visit trustpair.com to learn more.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260126508647/en/

One in four companies reported six-figure losses due to fraud, 45% spent multiple days responding to a single incident, and 17% have had to terminate employees due to fraud-related mistakes.