Dive Brief:
- The amount of money stolen by scammers and fraudsters last year rose 9.2% across the globe compared to two years ago, an increase driven largely by criminals leveraging artificial intelligence, according to Nasdaq’s Verafin unit.
- The organization — a division of Nasdaq that provides security services to financial institutions — recorded $579.4 billion lost to bank fraud and scams in 2025, an increase of $53.3 billion from 2023, the last time Nasdaq Verafin tallied worldwide fraud and scams, according to the unit’s 2026 Global Financial Crime Report, published Wednesday.
- “While it’s hard to put a number on it, we see AI in everything the day-to-day fraudsters are doing,” said Nasdaq Verafin’s head of fraud product strategy, Colin Parsons, said during a Wednesday Payments Dive virtual event panel discussion.
Dive Insight:
The report from Nasdaq’s Verafin unit said $62…
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THE ISUZU MOTORS PAYROLL FRAUD (GQEBERHA, SA)
Date: February 16, 2026 Perpetrator: Natasja Slabbert (42)
Case Description: In a case that hit home for the Eastern Cape business community, Natasja Slabbert, a payroll administrator at Isuzu Motors South Africa’s Struandale plant, was arrested for an alleged R10.5 million fraud. The scheme, which began surfacing in late 2024, exploited the very systems designed to manage employee compensation. Slabbert allegedly manipulated payroll records to create false entries that appeared as legitimate deductions and contributions on employee payslips. In reality, these “deductions” were being diverted into her personal bank account.
The fraud was only uncovered after diligent employees noticed that their net “take-home” pay was significantly lower than expected, despite the gross amounts on their payslips remaining high. Following a thorough probe by the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team and the NPA’s Specialised Commercial Crime Unit, it was discovered that in August 2024 alone, over R626,000 was unlawfully transferred. Slabbert was granted bail of R5,000 on February 17, 2026, and the case has been postponed to later in the month for further legal proceedings. This case highlights the critical need for “segregation of duties” in payroll departments, as a single point of failure allowed for the systematic siphoning of millions over nearly two years.
Link to Original: PE Express – Isuzu Payroll Fraud