Strengthening Fraud Prevention for School Districts: The Transformative Story from Toledo Public Schools

In this recent live event, the finance team at Toledo Public Schools share the before and after PaymentWorks for their vendor onboarding management process. Assistant Treasurer Joe Corfman and Director of Accounting and Finance Seth Sansing shared:

How digital supplier onboarding:

Eliminated the stress and fear staff experienced with every vendor banking change

Allowed staff to exchange transactional tasks for strategic projects, including converting 50% of their targets from check to ACH

Granted their organizations complete visibility to the onboarding process- drastically reducing phone calls or emails asking ‘where’s my vendor?’

On moving check vendors to ACH with PaymentWorks:

On shopping around, and ultimately picking PaymentWorks

K-12 procurement and finance teams are under increasing pressure: rising fraud attempts, vendor impersonation schemes, manual onboarding processes, and resource constraints make maintaining secure, compliant operations more challenging than ever.

For a school district like Toledo Public Schools — managing hundreds of vendors, frequent vendor banking changes, and tight compliance demands — effective fraud prevention for school districts became critical. In this fireside chat, the Toledo Public Schools financial leadership outlines how adopting PaymentWorks transformed their vendor onboarding and vendor management processes to dramatically reduce risk and improve operational security and efficiency.

Watch the Toledo Public Schools Fireside Chat to Learn About Fraud Prevention for School Districts

From Toledo Public Schools, hear how they accomplished:

• A secure, streamlined onboarding process that eliminated stress around vendor banking changes 
• Substantial reduction in manual vendor data collection — shifting load from staff to automated workflows 
• Conversion of ~50% of check-based vendors to ACH payments — reducing check-fraud exposure and improving payment security 
• Full visibility into vendor status and onboarding progress — eliminating confusion, reducing calls/emails asking “where’s my vendor?” 
• A more secure, audit-ready vendor management system that supports fraud prevention and compliance for the district

Why Fraud Prevention in School Districts Matters and How Vendor Automation Helps

School districts operate with complex vendor ecosystems — from service providers and contractors to suppliers, maintenance vendors, consultants, and one-time payees. This complexity opens many opportunities for fraud: fictitious vendors, phishing scams, unauthorized banking-information changes, billing fraud, and payment redirection. 

Failing to build robust supplier onboarding and vendor verification processes leaves districts vulnerable to:

• Vendor impersonation and “ghost vendor” schemes, where fraudulent entities masquerade as legitimate vendors to siphon funds. 
• Unauthorized changes to vendor payment instructions (e.g., fraudulent banking-info updates), a common method in vendor fraud. 
• Misuse of funds, duplicate or fictitious invoices, or overbilling, especially when internal controls are weak or segmentation of duties is insufficient. 

Because of these risks, fraud prevention for school districts cannot be an afterthought — the vendor onboarding process is the first line of defense. A secure, automated vendor onboarding system reduces attack surfaces, strengthens verification, and helps enforce consistent internal controls. 

How PaymentWorks Helped Toledo Public Schools Build Fraud-Resistant Vendor Onboarding

By leveraging PaymentWorks, Toledo Public Schools replaced their manual, error-prone processes with a secure, automated workflow suited to school-district realities. Key improvements included:

1. Automated Vendor Verification & Banking-Info Controls

Rather than relying on spreadsheets, phone calls, or unsecured emails for vendor banking changes, PaymentWorks provides a secure vendor onboarding portal. This reduces risk of fraudulent banking-info updates or payment redirection — a common vector in school-district fraud schemes

2. Reduced Manual Entry and Human Error

PaymentWorks shifts data entry and vendor onboarding tasks away from district staff, minimizing the chance of mistakes, mis-keyed data, or incomplete documentation — all of which can lead to compliance gaps or fraud vulnerabilities. 

3. Transparent Onboarding Workflow & Audit Readiness

The system grants full visibility into vendor status, onboarding steps, and approval history — reducing ambiguity, enabling better oversight, and supporting audit and compliance needs. Staff no longer field repeated calls or emails asking “where’s my vendor?” because the portal provides real-time status tracking. 

4. Faster Transition to Secure Payment Methods (ACH)

Toledo Public Schools reported converting around half of their check-based vendors to ACH via PaymentWorks — reducing reliance on paper checks (which are more susceptible to fraud) and moving toward electronic, traceable payments. 

5. A Unified, Standardized Vendor Management Process Across the District

With centralized vendor onboarding and consistent processes, the district avoids the risks of duplicate or fictitious vendor records, reduces confusion across departments, and strengthens internal control over vendor management — a critical factor in preventing vendor- and procurement-related fraud.

Key Outcomes for Fraud Prevention in School Districts — What Toledo’s Experience Shows

Implementing a secure, automated vendor onboarding solution delivered measurable benefits for Toledo Public Schools, and underscores why every school district should consider similar measures:

• Reduced risk of vendor fraud and payment diversion through automated banking-info validation and secure onboarding workflows.
• Cleaner, more accurate vendor data and fewer vendor management errors, minimizing opportunities for ghost vendors or fictitious vendor schemes.
• Enhanced compliance and audit readiness, giving finance and procurement teams clear documentation and history for every vendor.
• Operational efficiency gains, freeing up staff from repetitive manual tasks so they can focus on strategic priorities.
• Improved payment security via ACH and digital payments, reducing reliance on vulnerable check-based payments.
• Greater transparency and communication, reducing administrative burden and vendor-related confusion district-wide.

These results illustrate how strong vendor onboarding and management practices are critical to fraud prevention for school districts — especially those operating at scale with many vendors and frequent payments.