Fraud aimed at businesses tends to succeed for procedural reasons rather than technical ones. Someone was in a hurry, or no second person had to sign off. The defenses are correspondingly practical.
Angie Young, Vice President of Financial Crimes at Midwest BankCentre, lays out three steps any business can take to reduce its risk.
Slow Down and Verify
Any request to change payment information should be verified independently. That means calling a known phone number or a known contact, not the number the caller provided. Fraudsters supply their own callback details precisely because they expect you to use them.
Strengthen Internal Controls
Good controls stop fraud before money leaves the business, which is the only point at which stopping it is straightforward. Three worth having in place:
- Dual approval for payments, so no single person can move funds alone
- Separation of duties, so the person who initiates a payment is not the person who approves it
- Account alerts, so unusual activity surfaces quickly rather than at month end
Talk to Your Bank
Your local bank has fraud prevention services available for businesses, and most owners have never asked what they are. When it comes to the financial safety of yourself and your business, every resource matters.
Angie also explains how voice cloning scams work and why today’s scams look so real.
If you have any questions, give us a call, visit us at one of our branches, or visit our fraud resource center. Your financial safety is important to us.