Tag: Technology

Payroll fraud creates considerable losses for South African companies and taxpayers. The Public Servant Association revealed that ghost employees are costing the public purse nearly R4 billion. The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals estimated that payroll fraud steals at least R100 million annually from businesses and represents roughly 10% of business fraud cases.

Yet, these are not the activities of mastermind criminals. Payroll fraud is often incredibly basic. But when there are dozens to thousands of employees on the books, detecting these crimes can be resource- and time-intensive.

Diligent monitoring, audits, and face-to-face confirmation campaigns will expose and discourage payroll fraud. But these approaches are often also resource intensive. Fortunately, there is another method that works well in the short term: checking bank account details.

Bank accounts don't lie

Payroll criminals manipulate employee information. They can load ghost employees onto systems as new hires or edit existing records, such as those of departing employees, rather than remove them. They can abuse the profiles of infrequently paid employees such as contractors and freelancers, skimming money when legitimate payments aren't due or adding inflated charges that are diverted to a different account.

They can also change banking details right before and after payroll runs, hoping to avoid detection since such changes can sidestep proper processes, hide inside dense financial records, and not show up unless there is an audit of payroll activities.

In all of these abuses, changes to banking details are the common thread, says Yolande Schoültz, founder of YSchoültz Attorneys | Conveyancers | Notaries.

"For payroll fraud to work, money to be misappropriated and to be fraudulently paid over to a bank account, there must be a change in banking details."

Fraudsters alter payroll details, concealing their activities behind legitimate profiles and their role as system gatekeepers. However, most don't go as far as to forge relevant documents such as bank confirmation letters. When organisations have processes that dictate how to legitimately change employee bank details, they will keep those documents on file. Looking for those anomalies will expose payroll fraud.

Each month, check the new employees and terminations. The new employee records should have corresponding bank documentation reflecting their banking account details. The records of former employees should not have new banking details. If you compare those groups with the documents you have on file, you'll uncover irregularities.

"Even if that's the only verification you do, you are still mitigating payroll fraud," says Schoültz.

Signs of potential payroll fraud include:

• New employees on payroll with no or lacking corresponding banking documentation
• Profiles of terminated employees that are still active
• Bank account changes on profiles of employees that receive infrequent or variable payments
• Altered banking records with no corresponding documentation or requests
• The same bank account details appearing on multiple records
• Changes to banking details right before and after payroll runs

Monthly spot checks on new employee additions, or banking changes to terminated and infrequently paid employees, will show fraud patterns if there are any. Also conduct quarterly or biannual audits of payroll records, specifically looking for changes to banking details.

Simplifying fraud detection with technology

Why aren't organisations conducting these checks? The first issue is that management of payroll departments is often ambiguous. Do they fall under finance or human resources?

"Should payroll be a part of HR or finance? It's not either of the two; it's both, with finance taking the lead. Nevertheless, payroll can often operate independently from finance. When requests for verifications arise, they simply export a file and forward it to finance, which often accepts it without further scrutiny," says Schoültz.

The second is that conventional payroll software is typically isolated from people who should have oversight authority. Many companies still rely on payroll software that is at least 10 years old and typically lacks modern features such as remote access, ad hoc reporting, and integration with other business systems.

Modern payroll software that provides role-based access is a potent deterrent against payroll fraud because it removes barriers complicating payroll oversight, says Sandra Crous, MD of South African payroll and HR platform Deel Local Payroll.

"If you have a system where the head of HR or Finance can log in remotely and generate reports, you remove that isolation. They don't need to go through the payroll staff to see what is going on. And if they use these measures to regularly check on new and terminated employees, emphasising bank account changes, they'll uncover and discourage payroll fraud."

Payroll fraud may lack sophistication, but its cumulative impact is devastating. Vigilance over bank account details is a simple yet effective way to expose and discourage these crimes. By scrutinising banking detail changes and leveraging modern payroll software for oversight without bottlenecks, organisations can dramatically reduce their vulnerability to payroll fraud.

For media queries please contact:
Victoria Lindsay
victoria@innocomm.co.za

About Deel Local Payroll:
Deel Local Payroll, powered by PaySpace, revolutionises payroll management. It offers online, multi-country payroll and HR management for businesses from start-ups through to enterprise in over 40 African countries, the United Kingdom, the Middle East, and Brazil.

Cloud-native, Deel Local Payroll, is scalable, configurable, highly secure, and easy-to-use—delivering anytime, anywhere access. It features payroll automation, self-service features, automatic legislation and feature updates, customised reporting, and more.

Since 2024, Deel Local Payroll has been part of Deel, operating as an independent subsidiary, serving its customers through the PaySpace platform.

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The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) has approved a €17.71 million loan to support the second phase of Cabo Verde's E-Governance and Public Financial Management Reform Programme.

The Bank's Board of Directors approved the financing on Monday, continuing support that began last year as the island nation seeks to leverage technology for economic growth and administrative efficiency.

“The aim of this budgetary support, building on the assistance provided last year, is to stimulate economic growth through digitisation and private-sector competitiveness, while advancing e-governance reforms to modernise public administration and consolidate public finances,” said Abdoulaye Coulibaly, Director of the Governance and Economic Reforms Department at the Bank.

The first component of the programme will advance ongoing digitisation reforms to strengthen private-sector competitiveness. Key measures include the introduction of e-Justice to digitise judicial processes, and the launch of a call for proposals to attract private operators to the country's technology park under the ‘digital nomads programme. Admission criteria will be developed to facilitate the establishment of digital nomads and high-growth technology firms.

The second component aims to modernise public administration and consolidate fiscal sustainability. The programme will continue to support policy actions aimed at strengthening transparency and improving the efficiency of public resource management. An action plan to rationalise tax expenditures will be developed and published, along with full estimates of annual tax expenditures in the 2026 budget to improve transparency.

The Bank will also finance a Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability assessment scheduled for the first quarter of 2026, funded through the Middle Income Countries Grant.

The Programme's main beneficiaries include the Ministry of the Digital Economy, the Central Bank of Cabo Verde, the Institute for Gender Equality and Equity, the National Directorate of State Revenue, and the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority.

Media contact:
Alexis Adélé
Communications and External Relations Department
media@afdb.org

About the African Development Bank Group:
The African Development Bank Group is Africa's premier development finance institution. It comprises three distinct entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). On the ground in 41 African countries with an external office in Japan, the Bank contributes to the economic development and the social progress of its 54 regional member states. For more information: www.AfDB.org

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Binance (www.Binance.com) today announced the launch of Binance Junior (https://apo-opa.co/49UWuBE), a new parent-controlled app and sub-account for kids and teens, ages 6-17, that offers parents a family-centric platform to build crypto wealth and savings, helping prepare their children for a digital financial future. Binance Junior allows parents to open and manage crypto savings accounts on behalf of their children, enabling young users to save and earn crypto in the account through Binance Flexible Simple Earn, while restricting trading activities to ensure safety. 

Parents can fund the Binance Junior account via their master account or through on-chain transfers. By offering controlled early exposure to savings and digital assets, Binance Junior empowers parents to invest in their children's financial future and nurture positive saving habits. As crypto becomes increasingly integrated with mainstream finance, this new product aims to provide young users with a strong foundation in personal finance and digital asset education, promoting long-term financial literacy and readiness for the evolving economic landscape.

“As parents who love our children, we not only nurture them in their early development but long-term growth with responsibility and wisdom—helping their ability to face real life challenges independently where financial health and literacy are key to preparing them for the future, especially as money is evolving,” said Binance co-CEO Yi He. “Today, parents can take the first steps to prepare for their children's financial future and equip them for the future financial landscape. Binance Junior is a family finance initiative that helps parents build crypto wealth and savings for their children and encourages them to teach and practice healthy financial habits for the next generation into adulthood.”

Designed for both crypto-native parents and those new to digital assets, Binance Junior helps them begin their digital finance journey as a family in a secure environment with parental control and monitoring via a simplified interface, with safety measures in place. Binance Junior users aged 13 and above can initiate transfers on their app, with a higher age criteria where required by local regulations, and with daily limits applied. Trading is not permitted and transfers to non-parental adult users are also restricted. Parents will be notified of every transaction from their Junior account and have the ability to disable their child's Junior account at any time, immediately halting all transfers. 

As part of Binance's continued mission to educate people about the world of digital assets, while preparing the next generation for financial health and wealth under its broader family finance initiative, it has released a self-published book, “ABC's of Crypto.”

The “ABC's of Crypto” is an educational book designed as a children's book for anyone who is interested in learning about crypto and illustrating how crypto can be “as easy as ABC.” The book breaks down fundamental terms in crypto, from security and blockchain technology to types of coins, in a fun and easy-to-understand way—encouraging families to learn together in their digital finance journey. 

Binance Junior will be available in select countries via the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. For more information on features and how to get started, visit: https://apo-opa.co/49UWuBE.

About Binance:
Binance is a leading global blockchain ecosystem behind the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume and registered users. Binance is trusted by more than 290 million people in 100+ countries for its industry-leading security, transparency, trading engine speed, protections for investors, and unmatched portfolio of digital asset products and offerings from trading and finance to education, research, social good, payments, institutional services, and Web3 features. Binance is devoted to building an inclusive crypto ecosystem to increase the freedom of money and financial access for people around the world with crypto as the fundamental means.

For more information, visit: www.Binance.com