Key Takeaways:

  • PCCP sought additional ways to help reduce fraud risk while managing a high volume of payments across a large real estate portfolio.
  • PNC introduced Verification Services, providing additional information about counterparties and account details through the PINACLE® platform.
  • The solution helped PCCP enhance its layered approach to fraud prevention while maintaining operational efficiency.

When Los Angeles-based real estate investment management firm “PCCP” LLC looked to strengthen its payment verification process, the company turned to PNC Bank to add another layer of protection where it was needed most.

For treasury teams, the challenge of moving money securely has become increasingly complex. Business Email Compromise, social engineering schemes, account impersonation, and identity theft continue to evolve, forcing companies to evaluate traditional controls. As a company responsible for processing a high volume of payments across a large real estate portfolio, PCCP recognized the need to further strengthen its approach as the fraud landscape continued to evolve.

In early 2025, to help PCCP strengthen its payment verification amid evolving fraud threats, PNC worked with the company to implement Verification Services through the PINACLE platform. The bank found a solution that complemented PCCP’s existing controls without upending their workflow, integrating PNC’s Verification Services into PCCP’s current PINACLE setup. 

Recognizing a Changing Risk Environment

The conversations started with a straightforward question: how could PNC help PCCP strengthen its fraud mitigation efforts without creating additional burdens for its treasury team?

"PCCP processes a high volume of payments every day across a large real estate portfolio, and today, fraudsters are more sophisticated than ever," said Andrew Tjon, Associate Vice President within PCCP's Treasury team. "Ultimately, we were trying to reduce our risk exposure to potential payments fraud by catching Business Email Compromise scams and verifying the legitimacy of the accounts we're sending funds to before a payment goes out."

Rather than reacting to a fraud incident, PCCP was taking a proactive approach. While the company already had fraud prevention measures in place, it wanted additional information about the individuals and accounts associated with payment requests. While there are many solutions in the world of fraud security these days, it turned out that PNC’s Verification Services ticked the most boxes for PCCP.

Finding a Solution That Fit

According to Tjon, any new system would have to solve two main problems.

"We needed a solution that provided insight into the legitimacy of payment instructions we receive and helped confirm the identity of the individual sending them," he said. "It also needed to be easy to use and integrate smoothly into our existing payment workflow."

That workflow depended on PNC’s digital treasury management platform, PINACLE, which can help organizations manage:

  • Payments
  • Liquidity
  • Banking activity
  • Protection controls
  • Fraud prevention

Verification Services compares information against public and proprietary data sources and provides responses intended to support payment review and due diligence processes. The system can be utilized in a variety of ways, but, most importantly, it can fit the client’s parameters perfectly.

"PCCP wasn't looking to overhaul its treasury operations," said Mehmet Felek, Treasury Management Officer with PNC Real Estate Banking. "They wanted greater confidence in the payment review process and a way to help validate counterparties and payment instructions more effectively. Verification Services aligned well with those goals, as well as being easily accessible through the PINACLE platform rather than requiring a separate login or system."

Protection Without Complexity

While many protection tools require lengthy training programs or significant workflow changes, Verification Services’ biggest advantage is its ease of use for existing PINACLE customers.

"Integration was straightforward and fast since Verification Services is a service within the PINACLE platform we already use," Tjon said. "It was essentially plug and play with no implementation process. The tool fits naturally into our existing workflow, and the interface is simple and intuitive, so our team was able to start using it with minimal ramp up time."

Ease of adoption is one of the most important considerations when any company is considering a new system, and a cumbersome program can lead to hesitation from companies. PCCP quickly embracing Verification Services underscores the benefits of implementing additional verification on the same platform one relies on for the rest of their daily activities. 

Building a More Complete Picture

As PCCP incorporated Verification Services into its daily operations, its treasury team found value in the additional context available during payment reviews.

"The risk insights Verification Services provides on the counterparty's email profile have been especially valuable as they give us an indicator of whether they are legitimate and who they claim to be," Tjon said. "Similarly, the account-level context Verification Services surfaces helps us piece together the full picture of who we're sending money to, which is important for assessing overall fraud risk."

This includes additional visibility when dealing with:

  • Changes to payment instructions
  • New vendor onboarding
  • Direct deposit updates
  • One-time transactions requiring additional scrutiny
  • Performing additional payment due diligence

For PCCP, the goal was never to replace sound judgment or established procedures. Instead, Verification Services provided another source of information that could support the company's decision-making process and help strengthen due diligence efforts.

Confidence Through Verification

While technology can play an important role in fraud prevention, both PCCP and PNC view it as only one part of the equation.

"We still treat every payment with caution," Tjon said, "but Verification Services does give us more confidence that we're actually communicating with our intended recipient rather than a bad actor, and that the receiving bank account is legitimate and genuinely held by the beneficiary we intend to pay."

Confidence is the ultimate objective. Fraud prevention rarely depends on a single control or technology; instead, it is supported by a layered approach that combines people, processes, and tools to help organizations make more informed payment decisions. Confidence also comes from trust, a value reinforced through PCCP’s trusted advisory relationship with PNC.

"The best treasury conversations aren't always about products," Felek said. "They're about understanding a client's challenges and helping them navigate an increasingly complex operating environment with confidence."

PCCP's experience demonstrates an important reality for organizations across industries. As fraud tactics continue to evolve, relying on strong internal controls may not be enough anymore. Verification is the next step in the defensive playbook, enhancing nearly every one of a business’s external processes.

Through Verification Services and the PINACLE platform, PNC provides PCCP with an additional layer of payment verification that helps strengthen fraud mitigation efforts without introducing unnecessary operational complexity.