Case Study: Cabarrus County eliminates vendor fraud risk with PaymentWorks

Immediate- and Long-Term Risk Mitigation With PaymentWorks After a $2.5M Scam

Cabarrus County faced a major business payments fraud incident in 2018 when scammers successfully redirected a $2.5 million payment intended for a construction vendor. This event caused a significant financial loss of $1.8 million and revealed critical vulnerabilities in their manual vendor onboarding and information update processes. To prevent future fraud, the county sought a solution and chose to implement the PaymentWorks business identity platform.

PaymentWorks automated and secured the vendor onboarding and management process for Cabarrus County. The platform validates vendor identities and banking details, removing the risk of human error and fraudulent changes. As a result, the county confidently returned to using ACH payments, reaching nearly 100% of their ACH target within 90 days of implementation. PaymentWorks eliminated the risk of payments fraud, protected the county from future attempts, and significantly reduced the manual workload and anxiety for its staff.

Cabarrus County

Thomas Nunn

Procurement Officer