It’s easy to dismiss check fraud as something that happens to other companies. If your payments have always gone out smoothly, you might wonder how big the risk really is.
But the data suggests otherwise. According to the 2025 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey, 79% of organizations reported attempted or actual payments fraud activity in 2024. Checks are the most frequently targeted payment method.
And in a year marked by economic uncertainty, the consequences of a single fraud incident can have devastating effects on real estate companies—tying up cash you need for projects and hurting your relationships with suppliers.
In this article, we’ll explore why real estate companies are especially vulnerable to check fraud, what’s at stake if it happens, and how electronic payments can help reduce your exposure.
Check Fraud Isn’t Just a Scare Tactic
Let’s level set. At AvidXchange, we help companies automate accounts payable (AP), which means we do benefit when our customers move away from paper checks. But because of the line of business we’re in, we’ve also seen some horror stories. We don’t share them to sound pushy. We share them because they’re happening to real estate companies that look just like yours.
For example, take what happened to Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust: Before AP automation, their accounting team spent a full day each week on manual check runs—printing, double signing, and mailing stacks of payments. This paper-based process led to a case of check fraud, forcing a full bank account reset and systemwide updates.
This is bad enough on a regular day, but when real estate companies are facing economic uncertainty like today, the consequences of check fraud can do a lot more damage. Again, we don’t say this to scare you, but just to make you aware of the urgency.
Why Real Estate Finance Teams Are Especially Exposed to Check Fraud
Real estate companies make attractive targets for fraudsters because of how payments typically flow.
Think about the sheer volume of checks leaving your office each week. At some companies, hundreds of payments are batched and dropped at the post office on a predictable schedule. If someone figures out when that stack is headed out, it only takes one interception to walk away with a pile of checks in one fell swoop.
Fraudsters also know how to manipulate checks once they’re in hand. Through a tactic known as check washing, they can erase ink to change the payee name or amount before cashing it. Others simply duplicate the check or create a counterfeit that looks legitimate.
Because real estate finance teams often send recurring invoices in the tens of thousands of dollars, these counterfeit or altered checks can blend in with legitimate transactions. By the time anyone spots the problem, the money is gone.
Decentralized teams can make things riskier. Checks can go missing during internal transfers between property offices and headquarters, and it can take a while to identify the fraud attempt.
The Consequences of Check Fraud Go Beyond the Dollars
According to the 2024 AFP® Payments Fraud and Control Survey Report, almost six out of ten organizations recovered up to 75 percent of the funds lost to payments fraud last year, and just 22 percent were able to recover more than 75 percent. One in five said they were unable to recover anything at all.
Even if your bank is able to recover stolen funds, it rarely happens overnight. In the meantime, your cash is tied up—and in an uncertain economy, steady cash flow keeps work moving. When a large payment is stuck in limbo, it can delay a renovation, push back a supplier payment, or slow down work you’ve already promised to tenants and investors.
There’s also the time cost. Today’s real estate finance teams are already being asked to do more with less. Sorting out a fraud incident isn’t a quick phone call to the bank—it means pulling staff into paperwork, account resets, and long back-and-forths. That’s time they could have spent closing the books, reviewing budgets with property managers, or scouting new properties to add to the portfolio.
The biggest hit, though, is trust. In this economy, you need suppliers who will stick with you, show up when labor is tight, and negotiate fairly on pricing and terms. If a fraud incident delays their payment—even by a week—a reliable contractor may decide to take on clients who pay more predictably. Replacing a good supplier mid-project is expensive, and the ripple effects show up in resident satisfaction and net operating income.
How ePayments Help Prevent Check Fraud in Real Estate
The most effective way to reduce check fraud is to move away from paper checks. Electronic payments create encrypted, trackable, and auditable trails that are much harder for fraudsters to exploit.
With a paper check, everything a criminal needs is printed right there: your company’s account number, routing code, and signature. ePayments, on the other hand, keep sensitive data locked behind encrypted systems. Many leading platforms (including AvidXchange) are also licensed money transmitters or Money Services Businesses, adding another layer of protection.
The strongest safeguard comes from automating the entire invoice-to-pay workflow, where invoices are captured digitally, routed for approval, and paid electronically in one secure, connected system.
And in this economic climate, reliability matters most. Real estate finance teams can’t afford delays when supplier trust is on the line.
You need payment systems that are repeatable, proven, and don’t require constant oversight. ePayments give you that consistency—ensuring the contractors, utilities, and service providers that keep your properties running are paid securely and on time.
Keep Reading: Are ePayments Safer Than Paper Checks? Insights for Real Estate Professionals
Why Now Is the Time to Act Against Payment Fraud
So, why does this matter today? Because fraud tends to spike in an uncertain economy, and waiting to act only increases your exposure.
Fraud doesn’t schedule itself around your priorities. And when margins are thinner and teams are leaner, you have less cushion to absorb the disruption.
At AvidXchange, we’ve spent the last two decades helping real estate finance teams modernize their payment processes—not just to reduce fraud, but to free up staff time, strengthen supplier trust, and keep portfolios growing.
If you’re still on the fence about ePayments and AP automation, a good next step is to explore the numbers behind it. Our article on the ROI of AP automation for real estate companies breaks down how the shift pays for itself.
Or if you’re ready to start reducing your check fraud risk today, the fastest path is to see it in action. Book a demo with AvidXchange to see for yourself how the right technology can better position you to navigate check fraud and economic uncertainty.
AvidXchange is a licensed money transmitter for B2B payments in the United States, licensed as a Money Transmitter by the New York State Department of Financial Services, as well as all other states that require AvidXchange to have a license.