Companies no longer pay only structured businesses with easily verifiable legal documents.

Today, a growing share of financial flows involves individuals:

This shift is driven by the rapid growth of the independent economy and platform-based business models.

The number of freelancers in the European Union has grown sharply in recent years, turning payments to individuals into a now-massive flow.

Digital platforms have accelerated this trend:

Companies now have to manage thousands of individual payees, with frequent updates to bank details.

When a company onboards a vendor, it typically applies several checks:

But these same mechanisms rarely exist for individuals.

In many cases, the IBAN becomes the main element of trust associated with the payee.

The attacks observed on payments to individuals follow the same classic payment fraud mechanisms :

The difference: the controls in place are generally weaker.

Fraudsters gather information on their victims:

Ils peuvent ensuite : 

The goal is always the same: get the payee’s bank details changed.

Not all payments to individuals carry the same level of risk.

Some flows, however, combine several critical factors:

Freelancers are often onboarded quickly into payment systems to keep operations running smoothly.

But this speed sometimes reduces checks on:

Recurring payments often create a false sense of security.

Once a payee is registered, transfers repeat automatically for months or years.

A single IBAN change can then divert several payments before it’s detected.

Platforms have to manage massive volumes of payments to individuals.

Each month, they process:

new payees, changes of bank details and profile updates

In this context, manual verification becomes extremely difficult to maintain.

Yet financial liability still falls on the platform when a payment is diverted.

Commissions paid to independent intermediaries also carry high risk: sometimes large amounts, occasional payments, less systematic controls

These flows often escape the monitoring mechanisms applied to recurring payments.

Fraud observed on platforms often follows the classic mechanics of Business Email Compromise (BEC): identity theft, changed bank details, and diverted payment.

Some payee-change fraud operations have already generated tens of millions of euros in losses across Europe.

A fraudster obtains information about an active host on a rental platform.

They then contact the platform, replicating:

The next payment is processed normally… but goes to the fraudster’s account.

The fraud is only discovered after the real payee files a complaint, once the funds have already left the banking system.

As with many payment frauds, detection happens after the fact.

As volumes grow, manual controls quickly reach their limits.

Automated verification transforms payee management by introducing a systematic check before the payment is executed.

Every new bank detail registration or change can be automatically checked to confirm that the account matches the declared identity.

Automated systems make it possible to quickly identify:

before the payment is executed.

Payments to individuals have become a critical flow for many companies.

Yet these payees often remain less controlled than traditional vendors, even as amounts, volumes, and financial liability keep rising sharply.

This is no longer a marginal issue:

platforms, marketplaces, and companies operating at scale now need to secure millions of payments to individuals in fully digital environments.

In this context, payee verification is becoming a central issue in payment security.