Cheque fraud is among the oldest and most common forms of financial crime. Even with the advances of technology, cheques still account for billions of payments each year, making them a prime target for fraud. In 2011 a report by the Financial Executives International (FEI), estimated that cheques fraud costs North American businesses $20 Billion CAD annually. The most common methods of cheque fraud includes counterfeit, forged and altered. Other more sophisticated types are deposit fraud, transaction instruction fraud and payroll fraud among others.
In addition, fraud has way more than just the financial costs. It impacts reputation, consumes valuable management time to rectify the fraud and overall can lower company morale. Furthermore, because 85% of the most serious fraud incidents are committed by insiders, it can erode trust within the company.
