Risk Associated with Latest Changes to Same Day ACH

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The National Automated Clearing House Association (“NACHA”) is making enhancements to offer same day ACH more quickly, allow for larger per-transaction value, and add an additional processing window later in the day.  Here’s a brief timeline and explanation of those changes:

  • Sept. 20, 2019 – the availability of funds for many Same Day ACH and other ACH credits will occur sooner in the day.
  • March 20, 2020 – the per-transaction dollar limit for Same Day ACH will increase from $25,000 to $100,000.
  • March 19, 2021 – access will be extended by enabling Same Day ACH transactions to be submitted to the ACH Network two hours later every business day.

So why is fraud expected to increase?  Why will it go up when banks are essentially providing the same service to customers that they do today, only giving them their money sooner? Well, the answer is because bad guys love speed and convenience. Same day ACH will enable fraudsters to abscond with money before the bank or its corporate customer even discovers the fraud.

Account Takeover Will Increase

It’s no secret that fraudsters are stockpiling online banking credentials in what we often refer to as “sleeper fraud,” where they keep accounts on hand until they are ready to attack the bank en masse.    After same day ACH, we can expect to see escalated levels of account takeover since fraudsters can move the money in larger and faster quantities on compromised accounts.

Online Banking Losses Will Increase

If you want to see what will happen to U.S. online banking accounts, just look to the U.K. for the most likely scenario.  Online banking losses in the U.K. doubled immediately after Faster Payments launched and never really came back down to the pre-Faster Pay levels afterwards.

Payment Fraud and Bill Pay Losses Will Increase

Organizations that track their ACH and Bill Pay Fraud losses, will probably notice a big uptick in Bill Pay-related fraud losses.  Fraudsters can set up new payees and send funds, or even divert funds to new locations using the same payee accounts by changing the details.  Bill Pay losses will increase with same day ACH.

Call to Action

In 2018, there were 178 million transactions and $159 billion dollars processed same day, a 137% increase over the previous year. According to the FBI’s 2018 Internet Crime Report, theft of money as a result of Business Email Compromise and Email Account Compromise topped the list, with the average reported corporate loss of $130,000. Given that time is of the essence, Cyber Special Ops provides its clients with immediate expertise, experience and agility to investigate and recover money as a result of wire fraud.