protect your organization from fraud

Artificial intelligence tools are more advanced than ever before. These tools make it easier for criminals to deceive their targets and broaden their reach businesses of all sizes. Here’s what to watch out for:

• Suspicious images, videos, or voice calls impersonating executives, managers, or other people you are working with.
• Artificially generated invoices, contracts, or bank fraud alerts aimed to capture sensitive information.
• Sophisticated fake websites pretending to be from services or banks your organization has a relationship with.

Protect your organization:

Artificial intelligence tools are more advanced than ever before. These tools make it easier for criminals to deceive their targets and broaden their reach businesses of all sizes. Here’s what to watch out for:

• Establish secret phrases to confirm the identity of the person and the validity of their request.Artificially generated invoices, contracts, or bank fraud alerts aimed to capture sensitive information.
• Adopt dual controls so that no one individual can perform a request for scammers.
• Validate all requests for payment or passwords with the person who made the request by contacting them directly by using information you already have on file.

Payment fraud is when criminals use stolen or false information to gain access to funds and accounts or to make unauthorized payments. The most common forms of payment fraud are:

Check fraud

Surprisingly, 92% of organizations continue to use checks to pay their vendors.² Checks present a few unique security challenges that organizations should be aware of. Some of the most common forms of check fraud are:

• Check washing, which refers to the process of stealing a check, erasing the ink, and either writing a higher value to a different recipient or duplicating and selling the blank checks. Protect your organization by writing checks with permanent ink, retrieving your mail frequently, dropping mail directly inside your post office, and using electronic forms of payment instead.
• Counterfeit checks, which can be created when someone gains access to your routing and account number and accesses your funds without your consent.
• Mail theft, which can allow criminals access to account numbers or other personal information that can then grant them unauthorized access to accounts and funds.
• Deposit theft, which occurs when criminals take a legitimate check and deposit it into a bogus business. Wire fraud and cash-back scams:

Business Email Compromise:

Scammers have sophisticated methods of impersonating known businesses and individuals via email. These methods are used to request payment, either to false accounts or through links to fraudulent websites that will install malware and give the criminals access to sensitive information. 

• Don't use email as payment instruction. Always verify payment requests by calling a trusted number, setting up security phrases, and setting up dual control for payment initiation.  

Unfortunately, a high risk of financial loss exists inside your organization from your own employees. Common vulnerabilities include:

• Inefficient processes that keep terminated employees on accounts.
• Outdated account limits or restrictions.
• Lack of oversight through multi-layer approvals.
• Manual data without automated checks to catch errors.

How to protect your organization:

• Review accounts, users, and admins regularly—at least annually if not more often.
• Consider digital platforms that run reports to alert you to discrepancies in records.
• Set up multi-factor authentication for accounts so that no one person can single-handedly move funds without oversight.
• Perform separation of duties analysis across your financial operation.