The term originated in United Kingdom payments policy and has become the clearest way to describe the category that business email compromise, invoice redirection, and many consumer scams all belong to. What unites them is consent: the account holder pushed the money.
Because authorization is genuine, liability frameworks written for unauthorized transactions do not apply cleanly. In the United States, Regulation E protections for consumers cover unauthorized electronic fund transfers, and commercial funds transfers fall largely under UCC Article 4A, which allocates loss according to whether commercially reasonable security procedures were agreed and followed.
Common questions
Is authorized push payment fraud refundable in the United States?
Usually not for business payments. Commercial funds transfers are governed largely by UCC Article 4A, which turns on the agreed security procedure rather than on the fact that a scam occurred.
Why is APP fraud growing faster than card fraud?
Card networks carry built in dispute rights and issuer liability, while push payments settle to the beneficiary account with no equivalent chargeback path.
Primary sources
- Uniform Commercial Code Article 4A, funds transfers
- Regulation E, 12 CFR Part 1005
- FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), annual Internet Crime Report
Citing this entry? Cite as Coffr, LLC and link to https://getcoffr.com/glossary/authorized-push-payment-fraud.