Fraudsters are getting more sophisticated, and nonprofits are a growing target.

We’ve recently seen a new type of payment fraud making the rounds, not just with our clients, but they’re even targeting CFO Leverage directly.

In the past, these scams relied on spoofed CEO email addresses (forged sender addresses) asking for an urgent payment. Now, fraudsters are generating entirely fake email threads that appear to come from real executives. These threads include legitimate email addresses and look convincing enough to pass a quick glance from busy accounting staff.

Here’s how it typically happens:

• The fraudster creates a fake email chain that appears to include your CEO or another senior leader.
• The thread references a real vendor or project to make it look credible.
• A new invoice is attached, with a “friendly” request to process payment quickly.

Without a robust approval workflow, it’s easy for these fraudulent invoices to slip through.

At CFO Leverage, we help nonprofits build approval processes that protect their mission and resources:

• Segregated approvals so no single employee can authorize payment alone.
• Department-level review by staff who know the vendor or expense.
• Automated rules to route invoices to correct approvers for efficient processing.
• Fraudsters are getting clever, but you can beat them at their own game. A strong internal control process is your best defense.

If you’d like us to review your payables process or discuss setting up stronger approval safeguards, reply to this email or give us a call.