Now in its fourth year, the survey of 104 corporate treasury professionals found that 76% of organizations experienced at least one payment fraud incident in the past 12 months, up from 73% last year, and 44% were hit more than once. Two-thirds (67%) expect the risk to rise further over the next year.

Artificial intelligence is making familiar attacks faster, cheaper and far more convincing. More than half of respondents (53%) have faced a confirmed or suspected deepfake-related fraud attempt, most often in multi-channel attacks that pair a legitimate-looking email thread with a voice call, messaging exchange or video interaction. Yet only 44% have formal policies covering AI-related fraud.

Other key findings include:

1. Confidence is outpacing controls. 79% rate their confidence in supplier banking information as high or very high, yet only 18% continuously revalidate supplier bank details.

2. Email is still a front door for fraud. 41% receive sensitive supplier or payment data by email, and only 39% always use secure or encrypted channels.

3. Awareness is high, but ownership is not. 75% rate their fraud awareness as high or very high, but only 39% say ownership of payment fraud is clearly defined.

4. Technology is the biggest gap. 48% do not use a dedicated payment fraud prevention system, and 71% are prioritizing investment in payment validation.

“This year’s Index confirms what we hear from finance leaders every day: the problem is no longer awareness – it’s verification,” said Nithai Barzam, CEO of nsKnox. “When AI lets a fraudster impersonate a supplier convincingly across email, phone and video, any control that relies on these channels becomes part of the attack. Organizations need to validate bank accounts independently, continuously and globally, using authoritative data from the banking system, before a payment is ever released.”

“In four years of running this survey, we have watched awareness climb steadily, but the controls underneath it haven’t kept pace,” said Mike Hewitt, CEO of Adaugeo Media and Founder of Treasury Dragons. “The message for treasurers is clear: confidence should be the outcome of continuous verification, not a substitute for it.”

The full 2026 Treasury Dragons Payment Fraud Index report is available for download here. A recording of the masterclass, “How Treasury Can Stop Corporate Payment Fraud,” is available on demand at this link.