Forget fire drills—most HR leaders don’t even know the building’s on fire.

Live from isolved Connect in Charlotte, William Tincup and Ryan Leary sit down with Steve Lenderman, Head of Fraud Prevention at isolved, for a sobering look inside the underbelly of payroll fraud—and what most vendors aren’t telling you.

From synthetic identities and device biometrics to dark web marketplaces and machine learning scams, Steve exposes how payroll fraud is evolving faster than most teams can keep up—and why treating payroll like a bank is the only path forward.

This episode isn’t just a wake-up call—it’s a blueprint for survival in a world where one compromised login can bankrupt a business.

If your payroll provider can’t answer basic questions about fraud prevention, you’re already at risk.

Timestamps:

00:00 — Live from Charlotte: small shows, real conversations

00:45 — Steve Lenderman joins: banking roots and the road to isolved

02:05 — Payroll is banking: incoming, outgoing, and holding funds

04:26 — First-party fraud: fictitious businesses and payroll float scams

07:00 — Third-party fraud: account takeovers, ghost employees, diverted funds

08:29 — Predictive vs. reactive fraud models: what payroll should learn from banks

10:05 — Digital identity: from mouse movements to behavioral biometrics

12:07 — Twins and bad data: how traditional identity checks fall short

14:05 — Synthetic identity: the rise of fully fake individuals and businesses

16:04 — The new dark web: fraud tactics now shared on open platforms

17:51 — Cyber ≠ fraud: most fraud starts with cyber, but ends with money

20:00 — The $10M problem: why local law enforcement won’t touch payroll fraud

20:57 — The knockout question: “What’s your fraud prevention posture?”

23:39 — Final warning: if fraud prevention isn’t baked into the product, run

This episode was recorded live at isolved Connect on the UNC Charlotte campus.

The Heroes of HR podcast is a limited series sponsored by isolved. isolved is an HCM platform that modernizes HR, benefits, and payroll across Healthcare, Hospitality, Manufacturing, and more.

Learn more about isolved: https://www.isolvedhcm.com/

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  William Tincup LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tincup/

  
  


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  Ryan Leary LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanleary/

  
  

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