Brandy Derrick

Fraud rarely starts with a dramatic theft. It starts quietly. A fake email. A small test transaction. A vendor request that looks normal enough to approve without a second thought. That is exactly why commercial payments fraud is exploding. Nearly 8 out of 10 businesses experienced attempted or actual payments fraud last year. This is … Read more

A former employee of the Millbrook First Nation was just sentenced to four and a half years in prison for stealing more than four million dollars. Here’s the part that matters. That money didn’t disappear in one bold move. It went out quietly. A little at a time. Through normal looking transactions. While no one … Read more

Gift Cards Are Cash. And Fraudsters Know It. Gift cards feel harmless. They are easy to sell, easy to buy, and customers love them. But here’s the uncomfortable truth most businesses learn the hard way: gift cards are basically cash with fewer protections. Fraudsters know this. And they are exploiting gift cards at an alarming … Read more

Let’s talk about something that quietly drains profits from businesses every single day. Debit card fraud. When fraud hits a debit card transaction, who eats the loss? More often than not, it’s the merchant. Not the bank. Not the card network. Not the fraudster. The business that did everything “right” still ends up paying for … Read more

Every fraud case leaves clues. Some are flashy. Some are boring. This one is painfully boring, and that is exactly why it worked. A former Atlanta Hawks finance executive recently pleaded guilty to stealing $3.8 million over several years. Not through some brilliant cyber hack. Not through fake vendors overseas. Through routine payments that no … Read more

Why Smart Business Owners Still Fall for Scams If fraud only worked on careless people, it would not be a multi-billion-dollar industry. Scammers are not targeting ignorance. They are targeting human instincts. Fear. Trust. Urgency. Optimism. Authority. And in a business environment where decisions move fast, those instincts are exactly what fraudsters exploit. Think like … Read more

Every fraud investigation starts the same way. “It must have happened somewhere else.” Customers swear they only used their card at your business. Your register works fine. Deposits look normal. Nothing appears broken. That is exactly why credit card skimming works. Skimming is not loud. It does not crash systems. It quietly steals data while … Read more

FBI Warning: Account Takeover Fraud Is Rising. Are You Sure You’re Talking to Your Bank? At Detect-a-Fraud, we see the same pattern again and again. Smart business owners.Trusted employees.Established banks. And yet the money still disappears. The FBI recently issued a warning about a surge in account takeover fraud, where criminals impersonate financial institutions and … Read more

Most businesses believe vendor fraud would be obvious. A fake company. Massive dollar amounts. A trail of red flags waving wildly in the air. That is not how it usually happens. In a recent federal case, a Florida man was sentenced to eight years in prison for embezzlement and fraud after submitting false invoices and … Read more

The Rise of AI Voice Fraud and Why “It Sounded Like You” Is No Defense Picture this. Your bookkeeper gets a call. It’s your voice. Same tone. Same urgency. Same phrases you always use. “I need you to wire this today. I’m in a meeting and can’t text. This is time-sensitive.” The money is sent.And … Read more