PayToMe.co shares 5 ways businesses can cut payment fraud risk in 2026

PayToMe.co released five recommendations aimed at helping businesses harden payment controls as AI-driven scams, impersonation, and account takeover attempts rise in 2026. The guidance comes as new survey and government data show fraud attempts and losses remain elevated.

Why it matters: - Payment fraud is becoming harder to spot as criminals use AI-generated emails, deepfake voice technology, impersonation, and social engineering to target businesses of all sizes. - The stakes are rising. The 2026 Association for Financial Professionals Payments Fraud and Control Survey found that 76% of organizations experienced attempted or actual payment fraud during 2025. - Federal Trade Commission data show consumers reported about $3.5 billion in imposter-scam losses during 2025, including nearly $1 billion tied to scammers posing as legitimate businesses. - Total reported fraud losses reached about $16 billion in 2025, up roughly 25% from 2024.

What happened: - PayToMe.co released five recommendations on August 4, 2026, aimed at helping businesses strengthen payment security and reduce fraud risk in 2026. - The Palo Alto, California-based AI-powered fintech platform focuses on embedded finance, Text-to-Pay, and payment automation. - The guidance centers on stronger verification, tighter internal controls, improved account security, reduced paper-check use, and clearer payment communications.

The details: - Businesses should independently verify any unexpected request to change bank accounts, payment destinations, or vendor details before updating payment information. - Verification should happen through an established channel, such as a trusted phone number already on file, not through contact details included in the request. - Companies should separate payment creation, invoice approval, banking changes, and payment release duties whenever possible. - Additional controls should include approval thresholds, role-based access, access reviews when employees change roles or leave, extra review for first-time or unusually large payments, and detailed audit records. - Even small organizations can strengthen oversight by requiring an owner, manager, or external accountant to approve sensitive payment changes. - Businesses should use strong, unique passwords, enable multi-factor authentication, avoid shared accounts, and never share passwords or authentication codes. - Individual user accounts make suspicious activity easier to track and investigate. - Paper checks remain one of the payment methods most often hit by fraud, and manual invoice processing can delay detection of suspicious activity. - PayToMe.co's platform supports online invoicing, payment links, Text-to-Pay, ACH, eCheck, KYC, KYB, and bank verification. - Those tools are designed to support secure digital workflows and stronger identity and payment controls. - Businesses should clearly tell customers which email addresses are authorized, whether invoices may arrive by email or text, which payment methods are accepted, whether employees will ever request passwords or authentication codes, and how to verify suspicious requests. - PayToMe.co says Text-to-Pay, payment links, and digital invoicing can help organizations route requests through trusted channels while tracking delivery, engagement, and payment completion.

Between the lines: - The company is positioning fraud prevention as both a security issue and an operations issue, with digital workflows framed as a way to reduce manual exposure. - The emphasis on verification and separation of duties reflects a simple message: technology alone will not stop fraud if internal processes are weak. - The guidance also reflects a broader shift in fraud risk, where AI makes fake messages and impersonation more convincing than older scam tactics.

What's next: - PayToMe.co says businesses should prepare a documented fraud response plan before an incident occurs. - That plan should identify who to contact at financial institutions, payment providers, cybersecurity firms, legal counsel, and law enforcement. - Faster response may improve the odds of stopping fraudulent transactions or recovering funds. - Businesses should keep reviewing fraud-prevention procedures as payment tools, staffing, and criminal tactics change. - PayToMe.co also continues to promote its broader platform, which supports embedded payments, digital commerce, and intelligent financial infrastructure across industries including travel, logistics, storage, e-commerce, global shipping, and enterprise services. - The company says its ecosystem includes LuggageToShip.com, ShipToBox.com, and ShipAndStorage.com. - More information is available on PayToMe.co.