SAN DIEGO—Like his counterparts at state treasuries nationwide, Brant Gibson knows this to be true: “Everybody wants to target government funds, because government transactions are usually high-dollar transactions.” 

As the Director of EFT Services at the West Virginia State Treasurer’s Office, Gibson works hard to keep fraudsters’ hands off taxpayers’ money. A lot is at stake, because in fiscal 2025, the office processed $35.5 billion worth of EFT payments, according to Gibson, with daily amounts ranging from $15 million to $600 million. 

During the April 29 session “Implementing Nacha’s Fraud Monitoring Rule” at Smarter Faster Payments 2026, Gibson said that among the methods the bad guys use, “Business email compromise is a big one. We see this every day. Somebody’s always sending us an email saying, ‘I need my money quick, I need to change my bank account.’” His office has a very simple solution.

“We don’t do anything over email,” he said. “For us it’s always easier to just pick up the phone and talk to somebody,” adding that the only phone number they call is the one in the state’s portal. 

Plus, when there’s a request to change banking information, “they have to list their old banking information and their new banking information.” Why? Simple, said Gibson: “Most fraudsters don’t know what the old banking information is.”

While BEC has become a classic problem, Gibson is also concerned about a newer one: artificial intelligence, a threat he believes will only increase. “AI is going to start sending stuff and it’s going to look legitimate,” he said, adding his belief that “the only way to catch AI is to use it.”

Gibson urged fellow payments professionals to take a “multi-tiered approach to prevent payments fraud. Don’t just settle on the easiest or quickest method.” For the West Virginia Treasurer that includes using dual controls and validating all new and changed accounts. The office also conducts annual risk assessments and policy reviews, and offers employees the opportunity to attend training, which in Gibson’s case was Payments 2026. 

Gregory Rettinger, Vice President, Treasury and Payment Solutions, U.S. Bank, told the session that the old adage of haste makes waste is true in payments today—and it’s dangerous.

“Anything that is in a rush you should be very suspicious of, because these fraudsters try to panic people into taking action,” said Rettinger. Fraudsters know that a sense of urgency triggers something in most people. “Anything that tries to speed up things or tries to put pressure, really be suspicious of it.”

As Nacha continues its rollout of new Rules to fight fraud, Rettinger said he recommends his customers take “an incremental approach.”

“You’re going to do this piece-by-piece,” said Rettinger. “When we’re encouraging Originators to look at this, we tell them to put people in a room, take away their cellphones and laptops, and work through these processes step-by-step-by-step.” And there’s one piece of advice topping his list. 

“The number one thing I tell our Originators is consider doing account validation on all new or changed account numbers. I think that’s a prime vector where fraud gets into the Network,” said Rettinger. 

Rettinger also stressed the importance of knowing your customer, and not just when they’re new. 

“Monitor newly onboarded customers carefully,” but don’t let your guard down. “Sometimes they act like a good customer for a period of time and then become a bad customer,” Rettinger said. “We’ve seen some fraud in those circumstances.”

While it can all seem daunting, Rettinger left Payments attendees with a note of optimism. 

“The threats are going to keep evolving, but I think if all of the people in the Network stay vigilant, and continue to review their policies and procedures related to risk, and take steps to mitigate, we’re going to prevent it,” said Rettinger. “Every one that we stop is a victory.”