Even as business-to-business payments continue increasing on the ACH Network, a new survey finds the number of organizations using checks actually climbed last year, leaving experts wondering if there’s been a serious misunderstanding.

“Ninety-one percent of respondents report that their organizations are currently using checks. This figure is up from 75% in 2023,” according to the 2025 Association for Financial Professionals Payments Fraud and Control Survey Report. 

Why? AFP said the reason is “unclear” but added that “some organizations may have been misled into thinking that check payments are safer than digital payments. This view is clearly false after reviewing the data collected in the annual AFP Payments Fraud surveys (since 2015).” In fact, AFP said checks were the payment method most impacted by fraud, with 63% of organizations reporting being victimized in 2024. 

The report, released April 15, found that as both payment technology and fraud techniques evolve rapidly, “many business leaders who are unfamiliar with these new technologies may be inclined to fall back on what they know, perhaps being lulled into thinking that the least secure method of payment is the most secure.”

That’s a view which Nacha found alarming. 

“AFP is not exaggerating when it calls checks ‘the least secure’ payment method. Businesses have good alternatives to using checks and need to shake off the complacency about their vulnerability to check fraud,” said Michael Herd, Nacha Executive Vice President, ACH Network Administration. “Check payments should be disappearing in 2025.”

Compounding the concern, AFP said 75% of organizations continue to mail checks without using tracking information, even as the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) reported last September that in just six months it received more than 15,000 reports of mail theft-related check fraud totaling over $688 million in reported suspicious activity.

ACH debits are used by 88% of organizations, AFP found, noting, “As the preferred payment method of choice, ACH debits are reliable and more efficient compared to paper checks, as they are digital and automated.” 

Herd pointed out another advantage. “Banking information obtained from checks is a vector for unauthorized ACH debits, so eliminating check use reduces vulnerability to two types of fraud,” said Herd. 

Overall, the report found 79% of organizations reported experiencing actual or attempted payments fraud activity in 2024, down a tick from 80% the year before, but “in the ballpark of recorded payments fraud since 2015.”

Business email compromise (BEC) “remains a significant threat,” the report said, noting that “generative AI is being used to create higher quality—and therefore more effective—fraudulent emails.” Sixty-three percent of organizations reported experiencing BEC last year, level with 2023. 

“Nacha has adopted rules, effective in phases through 2026, intended to improve the ability of businesses and financial institutions to detect payments initiated due to authorized push payment—such as business email compromise—and recover funds,” said Herd.