How to keep your funds safe: Interview with Maxim Polyachencko, VP of Financial Crime Prevention

Tell us a bit about your role at Payoneer. How did you get into financial crime prevention? 

I’m a certified public accountant by profession. After several years working for one of the biggest accounting firms in the world, I began looking for new and fascinating things to do. I was interested in figuring out how to catch the bad guys and how to build the right mechanisms to protect financial environments. 

I started with PayPal, which was an amazing company, and I’ve now been working for over a decade in online risk management compliance for fintechs. For the last seven years, I’ve been here at Payoneer, where I’m now the Head of Financial Crime and Fraud Prevention. My teams investigate alerts of potentially unusual and suspicious activities, then decide if they’re potentially unusual or suspicious behavior or not. 

The goal for us is to reduce the levels of fraud, money laundering, and any other kind of bad actors. We’re here to make sure we have robust enough technology to prevent bad actors from using our platform. Our teams are spread across the globe, each with a distinct size, expertise, and goal – whether that’s detecting and preventing money laundering or fraud or building the right security infrastructure and tools Payoneer needs. 

What motivates you? What are the rewarding parts of the job? 

There are two places where I take my satisfaction and engagement. 

First, Payoneer democratizes opportunity. We create opportunities for people around the globe to make a living, regardless of their country, regardless of their profession, and regardless of their social economics. It doesn’t matter if you’re poor or rich, or if you’re living in the US, Indonesia, or Nigeria. If you’re talented and you want to work for clients from overseas, we’re helping the good guys to thrive and succeed. 

Second is just working with so many talented people and collaborating with multiple different professionals across the globe from different teams, different departments, and developing our people to be the best in their fields. The job is super interesting and super satisfying. 

What are some of the most common types of financial crimes SMBs face when conducting business globally? 

SMBs face several very notorious risks and exposures. One would be fraud, which can happen in different ways: credit cards, bank accounts, or even commercial disputes where a seller never ships, or deliberately ships a poor-quality item. Fraud can also involve cybercrime, phishing, or social engineering. The other main risk is around money laundering. As part of the global online payments industry, we see attempts to exploit platforms perhaps for terror finance, or maybe just layering, smurfing, or Lazy Susans. 

There are also other things to do with phishing and social engineering that can cause a lot of pain to SMB organizations, including account takeovers. In that situation, fraudsters can access any of your customers’ accounts. That can happen not only through hacking or cybercrime, but also through social engineering where they convince people to give away their credentials. 

How have financial crime tactics evolved in recent years, especially in the context of digital payments? 

The whole world has progressed with new technologies like AI and machine learning. But the bad actors are also using these, and sometimes they’re even the early adopters. When the bad actors are using these technologies, you’ve got to use them too if you want to catch them. That’s what’s happened at Payoneer: we’re using advanced technologies that involve machine learning, AI, and other techniques to detect and prevent those criminal attempts. 

Instead of manually analyzing thousands of transactions, you can now run an AI model and ask it to detect any potential bad use cases or money laundering technologies. 

What specific challenges do SMBs encounter in preventing financial crime compared to larger enterprises? 

That’s a very good question.

When an enterprise is big, it has its own fraud prevention teams, infrastructure, R&D, and maybe a cybercrime prevention team. The enterprise has its own personal expertise and tools to prevent fraud. When the business is small or medium, it usually doesn’t have this expertise. They don’t have fraud or risk experts or compliance experts within the company, so they’re fully reliant on us. It’s our responsibility to make sure they can do business without any fears or concerns, and that their money is safe with us. We want them to be able to focus on expanding their business. 

What are the key steps SMBs can take to protect their funds and data when doing business internationally? 

First: if you have the slightest suspicion about anything, do something. Raise it with us. Call customer care. Call your CSM or your GDM or your POC. If you see an email that has styling mistakes, if you see a domain that doesn’t make sense when you go to your financial company, or a website that isn’t protected with a HTTPS address, take a minute to check everything. 

Second, if you’re doing business with someone new and that you haven’t met before, have a short conversation with this person to understand what they’re doing, how they operate, and who their clients are. If this company has a very limited online presence, that’s another red flag. Do something about it. Ask your colleagues, ask your partners, and try to dig up some information about them, because doing business with someone that you’ve never met can be risky. 

We’re always here, so if any of our customers have any concerns, they can give us a call or a chat or an email. Customer Care will be happy to assist and check everything. When suspicions are raised, those cases are transferred to my team. We then look to see if there’s anything suspicious. 

Can you share some best practices for SMBs to identify and avoid fraudulent transactions? 

Let’s look at pricing. Usually, you’ll know the right price range for a product or service from your vendors or suppliers. If you discover a new vendor that gives huge discounts, that’s something that you should think about twice, because why would someone give such a big discount? What’s changed? And why is this vendor or supplier able to offer you such great conditions? 

Yes, sometimes it’s a legitimate part of a marketing campaign. But it can also be fraud. These goods can be purchased with illicit funds. These goods can be stolen. Or these goods may never arrive. If you don’t want to do your own research or due diligence, you can always consult with us, especially if the amounts are high. 

How can SMBs balance the need for security with the need for a smooth customer experience in their payment processes? 

That’s a million-dollar question. At Payoneer, our work has to balance across security, customer experience, and global regulations. For SMBs, I’d recommend they take some simple steps. Set up your systems so you always use 2FA, such as a fingerprint, push notification, or text message. Never share your passwords, never store your passwords in your browsers, and never use them in publication locations like cafes or restaurants. These are the basics. 

How can technology assist SMBs in detecting and preventing financial crime? Are there specific tools or platforms you would recommend? 

Technology allows SMBs to add additional layers of protection, like 2FA or searching online to discover if the counterparty you’re about to do business with is real. There are multiple software vendors selling software that’s designed to protect you, but whether each one is suitable really depends on your business and how sensitive your data and merchandise is. 

How does Payoneer leverage technology to protect its users from financial crime, and what sets it apart from other platforms? 

We take the safety of our customers and their money very seriously. We leverage various types of technologies, including machine learning and AI-powered mechanisms built with sophisticated rules and logics that are designed to detect and prevent bad things. We’re also using technologies to educate our professionals to make sure they have state-of-the-art tools and technologies, and the necessary knowledge and expertise they need to keep our customers safe. Whenever we add new checks or new controls, we use the most advanced technologies we can. 

Can you discuss the importance of continuous monitoring and real time fraud detection in preventing financial crime? 

Online monitoring, or real time monitoring, is important for us to detect and prevent bad things in real time, and that’s why we have various tools we use to make sure we can detect risks, not only in an offline mode, but also in real time. The earlier we detect them, the higher the likelihood is that we can prevent them.  

With periodic monitoring, we understand that sometimes things happen, or things change, and we periodically and continuously monitor our customers and their activities. While something is working great today, we cannot predict the future and say that it will be great tomorrow. If you’re happy with your account with us today, we want to make sure that you continue using Payoneer without any issues. So, we always continue to monitor our account holders’ activities. 

How do global regulations impact financial crime prevention, and what should SMBs be aware of in terms of compliance? 

Every jurisdiction, every region, and every country have their own set of regulations. Those regulations are different across the globe, and regulation is something that changes over time. Our job is to make sure we are fully compliant with the regulations and all the jurisdictions we operate in. 

The customer should be aware that, sometimes, even if everything is great, we still have to review their activity and their accounts. It’s not something personal. The regulations require us to do periodic reviews based on various symptoms or flags. And even if your account is great, we still have to review it. 

When we review it, we may ask questions, we may reach out to you and say, “Hey, we saw this and that, can you please explain what happened? Or can this provide us more documents about this specific transaction?” This is all normal. It’s not something to be concerned about. 

What steps does Payoneer take to ensure compliance with global regulations, and how does this benefit SMBs?  

We have a department that constantly monitors regulatory changes, interprets those changes to us, and works closely with our product and R&D teams to make sure that we are fully aligned and compliant with those regulations.  

In turn, that allows us to offer a very wide range of products, a smooth and great customer experience, and to have quick turnarounds whenever issues arise – ultimately meaning that we can provide business continuity to our customers. 

What are some red flags that SMBs should watch out for when dealing with new business partners or clients? 

There are lots to look out for. It could be a well-known and established company that has their own domain and website, but you’re getting contact from free email addresses like Gmail, Outlook, or Hotmail. Maybe the company is in the US, but the people you talk to are always in a different time zone. Or maybe you’re talking to someone who claims they’re from a certain country but can’t speak that country’s language. These are not always red flags. But the more unusual things you see, the more red flags that occur, the more caution you should have. 

If an SMB suspects they may have fallen victim to financial crime, what are the immediate actions they should take? 

First, contact us and report it. Once they’ve initiated that process, we may have additional requirements, questions, and requests which they should follow. Then, immediately they should change all their credentials. And again, if there’s any issue with doing that, our customer care team will be happy to assist and guide our customers through the process.  

Can you provide an example where Payoneer has helped an SMB prevent or mitigate financial crime? 

I can recall multiple examples. One was a customer who was about to do business with a counterparty that he’d never met or spoken with. He had legitimate concerns, and he raised them with us. After evaluating the situation, we recommended that he not do business with this counterparty. It was the right decision, because it turned out this counterparty was just a facade for fraud and money laundering. 

What final advice would you give to SMBs looking to enhance their financial crime prevention strategies as they scale? 

Secure the systems they’re working with – not just their financial account, but any other system such as attendance records, inventory, or bookkeeping systems. All these should be secured with 2FA. And they should not be using the same password for any of these accounts. I understand it’s convenient, but it means that if one of these places is compromised, all your accounts are now compromised.  

How do you see the landscape of financial crime prevention evolving in the next 5-10 years, particularly for SMBs? 

That’s a tough question. It’s hard to predict, especially with all the technological progress that we see nowadays, but I think that fraud and money laundering are going to be much more sophisticated. I don’t know exactly what it will look like, but the world will have to move towards a digital identity system. 

What future initiatives or innovations is Payoneer working on to further support SMBs in financial crime prevention? 

We’re always working on new initiatives to strengthen our risk and compliance, to strengthen our capabilities, and to make our detection and prevention mechanisms way more advanced. We have many different initiatives designed to make the lives of our SMBs better, smoother, safer and more protected, but for obvious reasons I can’t go into the specifics. 

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, financial crime remains a persistent threat to businesses of all sizes, especially SMBs. However, by adopting robust prevention strategies, leveraging advanced technologies like AI and machine learning, and fostering strong partnerships with trusted financial platforms like Payoneer, SMBs can better safeguard their assets and data. Maxim’s insights underscore the importance of vigilance, continuous learning, and the need to stay ahead of evolving criminal tactics. By focusing on security while ensuring a seamless customer experience, businesses can thrive globally with confidence, knowing they are well-protected against financial crimes. 

Disclaimer: Payoneer is not liable for the accuracy, correctness, completeness, or reliability of information shared herein. Any information herein is for informational purposes only and should not be deemed as official professional, legal, financial, HR, and/or business advice by Payoneer. Payoneer disclaims all representations and warranties regarding the information presented therein.