How digital tools can protect CRE from fraud

“Chase Connect® offers several products to protect multifamily property owners against check and rent payment fraud,” Da Silva said. “These include ACH Debit Block, Check Protection Services and Check Monitoring to prevent unauthorized electronic debits, and secure payment solutions to reduce reliance on paper checks.” 

ACH Debit Block

ACH credits were the most vulnerable payment type for business email compromise fraud in 2023—a first for the annual AFP Survey. Fraudsters targeted ACH credits (47%), wire transfers (39%) and ACH debits (20%) most frequently, according to the 2024 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey. ACH Debit Block allows you to specify who can withdraw money from your account. You can customize ACH Debit Block by amount and vendor. For example, a property management company might specify that only the utility company and approved maintenance contractors can withdraw ACH debits, and only in amounts less than $5,000. If someone does get your account information, the block stops unauthorized ACH debits to your account.

ACH Debit Block also allow you to set user entitlements to limit which employees can set or change these rules. For example, you may only want an accountant or lead property manager to have the ability to modify vendor authorizations or amount limits.

Check Protection Services

Checks continue to be the payment method most vulnerable to fraud, with 65% of respondents to the 2024 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey reporting their organizations faced fraud attacks via checks.

Our Check Protection Services tool helps validate the legitimacy of checks before they are processed. When your company issues checks, you provide issuance details to the firm and then confirm or decline payment for checks that don’t match your issuance information—the payee’s name, amount and check number. 

For example, when one of your contractors presents your check for payment, Check Protection Services cross-references the presented check’s details with the issuance information you provided to the firm. If the details match, the check is processed for payment. We’ll alert you of any discrepancies.

Check Monitoring

The firm’s Check Monitoring tool lets commercial real estate organizations establish a specific amount threshold. Any checks that exceed that amount are presented to you for payment confirmation, helping prevent unauthorized access and fraudulent information.

Say your organization sets your issuance threshold at $10,000 but issues a $12,000 check to a contractor for renovations. The Check Monitoring tool alerts you so you can verify the contractor’s invoice and work completion before you confirm the payment. 

Next steps

Enrolling in Chase fraud protection services is the first step in preventing your business from becoming a victim of fraud. There’s also employee training and a shift to digital payments to consider. 

“We're proud to offer educational resources that help detect and prevent fraudulent activities and empowers our clients to proactively guard against various types of fraud,” Da Silva said.