As 2025 came to a close, many North Carolina business owners found themselves asking the same question: Why does fraud feel harder to spot than ever before? The answer lies in how familiar scams evolved last year — becoming faster, more convincing, and more costly.
From mail theft and check washing to business email compromise and invoice fraud, fraud prevention in North Carolina became a critical focus for businesses of all sizes in 2025. Insights shared at Southern Bank’s Fraud Prevention Symposium in Raleigh help clarify what happened and what businesses can do to stay ahead moving forward.
Which Fraud Trends Impacted North Carolina Businesses Most in 2025?
One of the most significant fraud trends of 2025 was the return of so-called “old-school” scams, amplified by speed and digital access. Check fraud, mail theft, and impersonation schemes didn’t disappear, but they adapted.
Heather Stroud, Special Investigator, North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, explained that fraud often succeeds when businesses rely on trust without verification. As she noted, “We live in a society today that now we have to verify to trust.” That reality shaped many of the fraud cases investigated across the state last year.
Mail theft and check washing remained common entry points. Criminals intercepted checks from mailboxes or processing centers, altered payee information, and moved funds quickly before businesses realized anything was wrong. These schemes were especially damaging when checks were mailed well before reconciliation or review.
Stroud underscored the risk plainly, stating, “If you’re still sending out checks, I would just beg you to stop sending checks through the mail.” For businesses that continued mailing checks in 2025 without added controls, the window for fraud widened significantly.
How Did Business Email Compromise and Invoice Fraud Evolve in 2025?
Business email compromise (BEC) continued to be one of the most costly fraud threats facing North Carolina businesses in 2025. Fraudsters posed as trusted vendors, executives, or partners, sending highly convincing emails requesting changes to payment methods or banking instructions.
Sheila Ewers, Vice President, Fraud Analyst III – Risk Management at Southern Bank, described why these scams were so difficult to detect. “Emails are intercepted and altered — the invoices look just like the regular ones you’ve seen for years,” Ewers said. Because businesses often expected legitimate invoices, fraudulent requests blended seamlessly into normal workflows.
Without a defined verification process, even experienced teams moved quickly — sometimes too quickly. These incidents highlighted a key lesson from 2025: Familiarity can create blind spots, especially when communication happens electronically.
What Can Businesses Do to Prevent Fraud Before Money Is Lost?
A major takeaway from 2025 was that fraud prevention works best when businesses combine human vigilance with clear internal controls.
Verification emerged as one of the most effective defenses. Both law enforcement and banking experts emphasized slowing down payment decisions, even when messages appeared urgent or routine. Stroud reinforced this principle throughout the year, stating, “Nothing is urgent enough that you can’t stop and verify.”
Businesses that required verbal confirmation using known contact information — not details provided in emails or texts — significantly reduced their exposure to fraudulent transaction prevention failures.
For companies still issuing checks, Positive Pay banking became a critical safeguard. This tool verifies issued check details against checks presented for payment and flags discrepancies before funds are released.
Stroud explained the importance of this control clearly: “Positive Pay is that level of protection your company needs.” In 2025, businesses using Positive Pay were far better positioned to catch altered or counterfeit checks before losses occurred.
How Does Positive Pay and ACH Monitoring Help Protect Businesses?
As electronic payments increased in 2025, fraud prevention for small businesses increasingly depended on monitoring tools that worked in real time.
Lauren Schlafer, Assistant Vice President and Treasury Services Specialist at Southern Bank, highlighted how Positive Pay supports day-to-day protection. “Positive Pay lets you see mismatched checks before they ever hit your account,” Schlafer said, allowing businesses to stop fraudulent payments before funds are moved.
ACH fraud also rose as criminals shifted away from paper checks. ACH Positive Pay added another layer of business payment fraud detection by alerting account holders to new or suspicious electronic drafts. As Schlafer explained, “ACH Positive Pay helps protect against electronic drafts — you’re alerted before anything posts.”
These tools proved especially valuable in 2025, when speed often determined whether funds could be recovered.
What Role Do Businesses Play in Fraud Prevention?
While banks deploy sophisticated monitoring systems, one of the clearest lessons from 2025 was that businesses themselves remain the first line of defense.
Ewers emphasized the importance of active account oversight, noting, “You are the best person to identify fraud or an irregular item in your account.” In multiple cases last year, delayed statement reviews limited recovery options and increased losses.
Education also played a critical role. Southern Bank worked closely with businesses to reinforce best practices, including employee training, internal controls, and regular account review. As fraud tactics grew more sophisticated, reliance on informal or single-person processes became a growing risk.
At the same time, Southern focused on making fraud prevention tools practical and accessible. “We make these tools easy to use because we know our clients are busy — and fraud isn’t slowing down,” Schlafer said. That balance of technology and guidance helped businesses integrate fraud prevention into everyday operations.
What Can North Carolina Businesses Learn From 2025 Going Forward?
The fraud trends that defined 2025 delivered a clear message: Trust must be paired with verification, and speed must be balanced with control. As businesses move into 2026, applying these lessons — from Positive Pay banking and ACH monitoring to employee education and verification protocols — will be essential to staying ahead of emerging threats. With the right tools, processes, and partnerships in place, fraud prevention becomes not just a safeguard but a foundation for long-term business stability.
To learn how Southern Bank helps North Carolina businesses protect their payments, strengthen internal controls, and stay ahead of fraud, explore our business banking solutions.
