Fraud Is Up: How Wealthy Families Get Targeted and How to Bulletproof Your Process
Fraud has always followed wealth. Today, the speed, realism and scale of attacks have increased. Attackers use public data, clone voices, spoof emails and phone numbers and pressure well-meaning employees into wiring large sums within minutes. For affluent families and their professional teams, fraud attempts are inevitable. The real question is whether your process can withstand a sophisticated, socially engineered attack on an ordinary day.
This article explains how wealthy families are being targeted, why traditional controls often fail, and how to create a bulletproof process using clear roles, secure payment workflows and a culture that encourages verification, even when requests seem urgent.
Why Wealthy Families Are Prime Targets
Affluent households and family offices have characteristics that attract fraudsters:
- Complex structures with multiple entities, trusts, accounts, properties and advisors create many handoffs, each offering a chance for interception or impersonation.
- High-value transactions such as real estate closings, capital calls, tax payments, private aviation and philanthropy involve large wires that do not appear unusual.
- Delegation is common. Principals often rely on assistants, controllers, bookkeepers or outside providers. Fraudsters focus on the person who executes transactions.
- Public visibility from philanthropy, board service, business sales or social media provides context for convincing stories.
- A desire for privacy can lead families to avoid creating friction or “bothering” others, which fraudsters exploit by pushing for quick, quiet action.
Modern fraudsters focus on manipulating human workflows rather than hacking systems.
Common Fraud Tactics Targeting High Net Worth Families
- Business Email Compromise (BEC): The “Looks Legit” Wire Request Attackers impersonate trusted parties and request wires with new instructions. They use lookalike domains, compromised mailboxes or insert replies into existing threads. The content feels normal, the timing feels urgent and the amount is plausible. Many people assume that inclusion in an email thread means authenticity.
- Vendor or Advisor Impersonation: “We Updated Our Banking Details” Fraudsters impersonate vendors and submit updated ACH forms or new wire instructions, often using professional-looking PDFs. Vendor changes are often treated as routine rather than high-risk events.
- Real Estate Wire Fraud: The Escrow Trap Real estate transactions involve high-value, time-sensitive wires and many participants. Attackers monitor email traffic and inject false wiring instructions just before closing. Teams often rely on emailed instructions instead of pre-verified details or secure portals.
- Deepfake Voice and “CEO Fraud” Fraudsters use AI-generated voices or confident scripts with spoofed caller IDs to request urgent payments. People may hesitate to slow down a principal or appear distrustful.
- Account Takeover and Payment Redirects Attackers gain access to email accounts through phishing, password reuse or SIM-swapping. They observe patterns and strike during invoice changes, new banking information or confidential wire instructions. The first sign is often a normal-looking request from a real account.
- Romance or Relationship Scams and Trusted Contact Manipulation Attackers build trust over time and then request financial help, gifts or investment opportunities. Emotional manipulation can bypass logic and families may delay intervention due to embarrassment.
Why Traditional Controls Often Fail
Many families and teams have controls such as dual approval or monthly reviews. However, fraud often succeeds in the gaps between policy and practice:
- Controls are ignored during urgent situations.
- Uncertainty about authority or reluctance to challenge others.
- Verification steps use the same compromised channel, such as email.
- Lack of standardized checklists leads to judgment calls.
- Workflows vary by account, entity and institution, causing confusion.
A fraudster only needs one weak link, such as a rushed moment, a new employee or a one-time exception.
A Practical Framework to Bulletproof Your Process
A bulletproof process is predictable and reduces discretion in high-risk moments. Safe behavior becomes the default.
- Establish a Written “Money Movement Policy” Create a concise policy that answers:
- Who can request, approve and execute payments?
- What are the verification rules for new payees, changes to instructions, large or unusual transactions and time-sensitive transactions?
- Which channels are approved for requests?
- What is the escalation path when something feels off? Keep the policy short and accessible. Treat any change in wiring instructions as a high-risk event.
- Separate Duties, Even in Small Teams Segregate roles for requester, approver, executor and reconciler. If one person must fill multiple roles, add compensating controls such as independent weekly reviews.
- Build a Known Good Verification System Maintain a secure contact list for attorneys, bankers, advisors and key vendors. Store it in a password manager or shared vault, not in email. Always verify through pre-established phone numbers or secure portals, not numbers in emails or attachments.
- Use Checklists for Payment Workflows Apply a checklist for any wire or ACH above a set threshold and for every new payee or change request. Include source, purpose, payee identity, banking details, second approver signoff, supporting documentation, execution confirmation and post-transaction verification.
- Implement Guardrails Around Urgency Build in automatic friction points:
- Apply a cooling-off rule for changes to wiring instructions.
- Require verbal confirmation by two people for urgent wires, using out-of-band contacts.
- Use a standard phrase such as, “We have a policy: we verify before we wire.”
- Strengthen Email and Communication Security Use multi-factor authentication on email and financial accounts, password managers, unique passwords, login alerts and secure file sharing. Train staff to spot lookalike domains and reply mismatches. Consider monitoring for impersonation domains if the family has a public profile.
- Reconcile Transactions Quickly and Independently Review outgoing wires and ACH daily for high-activity accounts. Conduct weekly reviews of all money movement with the principal or a trusted delegate. Ensure the reconciler is not the same person who executed the payment.
- Run Fraud Fire Drills Simulate scenarios such as fake emails or urgent calls once or twice a year. The goal is to test the process and normalize verification, not to embarrass anyone.
What to Do If You Suspect Fraud or a Wire Was Sent in Error
Act quickly:
- Contact the bank and request a wire recall trace.
- Escalate internally to the principal, CFO, controller and legal counsel.
- Preserve evidence such as emails, headers, call logs, PDFs and text messages.
- Change passwords and revoke sessions for any potentially compromised accounts.
- File appropriate reports as advised by counsel and the bank.
Quick action improves the chances of recovery.
The Bottom Line: Make Safe Behavior the Default
Wealth attracts attention. Successful fraud often results from a moment of human compliance. Families that avoid losses have clear roles, strong verification and payment processes that do not rely on trust alone. If your workflow depends on noticing something unusual, it is time to upgrade. The solution is a disciplined, repeatable process that protects principals, staff and advisors while keeping life and business moving.
Contact your F+H advisor to learn more about protecting your family and your process.
