Supply chain disruption is nothing new, but what’s changed is the speed, frequency and complexity of today’s shocks. Geopolitical tensions, trade shifts and tariff pressures are forcing companies to reconfigure their supplier networks in real-time. To keep operations moving, organizations onboard new vendors faster than ever, sometimes in “emergency mode,” where speed outweighs scrutiny.

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This is precisely where modern fraud takes hold. Traditional verification methods – callbacks, email confirmations and manual reviews – simply weren’t built for this pace or global scale. Under pressure, teams bypass steps, rely on trust and assume vendor data is accurate. With AI-powered fraud accelerating, even minor lapses can have major financial consequences.

Trustpair’s 2025 research confirms the trend: 90% of U.S. companies were targeted by cyber fraud last year, and vendor fraud attempts almost doubled, rising to nearly 70%. Fraud is no longer an occasional disruption; it is a structural risk amplified by supply chain instability.

The issue with manual verification

Most organizations still rely on manual processes to validate vendor information. Only a third have implemented automated tools, leaving the majority exposed to increasingly sophisticated schemes. Manual verification wasn’t designed for global supplier networks, frequent vendor turnover, compressed onboarding windows or instant payments.

Silos compound the problem. Procurement vets suppliers, AP processes invoices, Treasury releases payments, and Risk evaluates exposure, but each operates in its own system with its own data. Trustpair’s research shows that only 9% of executives see fraud prevention as a multi-department responsibility, yet 48% cite siloed processes as a top challenge.

When no single team owns the full picture, every handoff becomes a point of exposure.

The risk intensifies for companies with international footprints. Many fraud-prevention tools lack global coverage, pushing teams back to manual checks – PDFs, emails, phone calls – that fraudsters can easily manipulate. This makes cross-border onboarding especially vulnerable at exactly the moment when supply chains are shifting toward unfamiliar markets.

Modern fraud realities

Fraud has always followed opportunity, but AI has fundamentally reshaped the threat landscape. Attackers now use AI to generate personalized phishing emails at scale, clone supplier or executive voices, create realistic fake vendor websites or scrape public sources to imitate legitimate supplier profiles

What previously required time and skill now takes seconds. AI allows attackers to launch hundreds of believable schemes simultaneously, across multiple channels and continents. No manual callback can counter a deepfake voice. No email validation can detect an AI-generated message that perfectly matches a known supplier’s tone.

Faster payment rails further widen the gap. Money moves instantly, eliminating the delays that once gave teams time to catch errors or stop transfers. Fraudsters time their attacks strategically, targeting quarter-end, urgent sourcing pivots, regulatory deadlines and especially holidays. Last year, 50% of companies experienced a surge in fraud attempts during periods such as summer and Christmas, when teams were distracted or operating with reduced staff.

Strengthening fraud prevention

Modern fraud prevention isn’t about adding more manual checks; it’s about embedding reliable, continuous protection directly into the way organizations operate. Effective defenses rest on three pillars:

1. Confident global account validation

Organizations need a way to verify vendor accounts with accuracy and consistency across all markets in which they operate. This means replacing outdated or single-source checks with reliable, real-time validation that safeguards the entire payment chain, from onboarding to execution.

2. Automated, efficient workflows

Fraud prevention must integrate seamlessly into existing enterprise systems, such as procurement platforms, ERPs and treasury tools, so teams can validate vendor information without extra steps or disruptions. Automation accelerates decision-making, reduces manual workload, and ensures controls aren’t skipped when pressure is high.

3. Enterprise-wide alignment

Fraud prevention requires shared visibility across procurement, AP, treasury and compliance. Breaking down information silos ensures that all teams operate from the same accurate vendor data and follow consistent security standards, creating a unified and resilient defense.

When these pillars work together, automation reinforces them by maintaining a single, authoritative source of truth for vendor data even during system disruptions, such as the recent Amazon Web Services outage. This ensures validation consistency and dependability at every step of the P2P process, so even when operations move quickly or teams are under strain, organizations don’t revert to risky manual methods that open the door to fraud.

Fraud prevention as a strategic capability

For many organizations, fraud prevention becomes a priority only after an incident occurs. However, with AI-powered fraud accelerating and supply chains becoming increasingly dynamic, a reactive approach is no longer viable.

Leaders should reassess their current controls and ask:

• Are manual steps still our primary line of defense?
• Do we validate vendor data continuously or only at payment?
• Can we detect anomalies early in the P2P cycle, not just at the end?
• Do we have unified ownership of fraud prevention across teams?

Modern fraud prevention is not just about reducing risk. It protects overwhelmed teams, strengthens supplier relationships, and enables companies to operate at the speed the market demands.

Organizations must decide whether to modernize now or wait until a costly breach forces the decision. In today’s environment, speed without security is an open door for fraud. Automated, connected and data-driven verification is the only sustainable way to close it.

About the Author

Baptiste Collot is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Co-founder of Trustpair, a leading fraud prevention platform. Since co-founding the company in 2017, Baptiste has been instrumental in shaping its vision, driving product innovation, and establishing Trustpair as the reference solution for large corporations to take action against vendor fraud. With a strong focus on operational excellence, Trustpair supports procurement and finance teams in supplier data management projects for some of the largest corporations around the world.