The U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network on June 5, 2026 asked banks to step up efforts to detect and report bank fraud tied to payroll schemes and identity theft, according to the agency’s advisory.
The FinCEN advisory says financial institutions should be alert for “suspicious activity associated with payroll tax fraud schemes” and activity that could facilitate identity theft or money laundering, and it urged banks to file suspicious activity reports when they see red flags, the Treasury said.
The June 5 advisory highlights patterns the agency has seen, including transactions that suggest employers are using stolen identities or shell companies to process payroll, the Treasury statement says. It asks banks to increase monitoring and to share relevant intelligence with law enforcement when they identify potential schemes.
FinCEN’s notice names identity theft and payroll tax fraud as features of the schemes and tells banks to look for indicators such as suspicious payroll deposits and repeated use of similar tax IDs, the agency’s press release shows.
Consumer and industry outlets reported the advisory alongside reporting that the move is part of broader federal efforts this year to disrupt fraud networks and protect tax revenue. PBS summarized the advisory as a call for banks to watch for “red flags” tied to customers who may be in the U.S. illegally, while Banking Dive said the guidance specifically flagged identity-theft and payroll fraud.
Bank fraud investigators and compliance officers will likely need to adjust transaction-monitoring rules and employee training to match the advisory’s examples, experts told industry publications cited in the advisory coverage. The Treasury linked the guidance to efforts to prevent schemes that “facilitate identity theft, payroll tax fraud and money laundering,” language that appears in the FinCEN release.
The advisory does not propose new laws; it is an intelligence and supervisory prompt telling banks what to watch for and to report. Financial institutions still must balance customer privacy and anti-discrimination rules while following the guidance, legal analysts noted in coverage of the notice.
Why it matters: stronger bank monitoring and more suspicious activity reports could make it harder for fraud rings to process stolen identities and illicit payroll flows, shrinking opportunities for organized schemes that exploit gaps in employer verification and tax reporting.
Sources
- U.S. Department of the Treasury — FinCEN press release and advisory dated June 5, 2026 outlining suspicious-activity indicators and urging banks to report payroll tax fraud and identity-theft schemes.
- PBS NewsHour — explanation of the Treasury advisory and its red-flag guidance for banks.
- Banking Dive — industry coverage noting the advisory named identity theft and payroll fraud as features of the schemes banks should watch for.
- UPI — reporting summarizing the Treasury’s alert to financial institutions about suspicious indicators tied to illegal labor and payroll schemes.
