Straight Talk: Financial Insights
Business Finances Blog
How you can protect your business from wire fraud
Cybercrime is becoming more sophisticated. Wire-fraud methods and social engineering scams are costing US businesses billions of dollars each year. The impact of wire fraud extends beyond financial costs. Businesses that are defrauded by these methods experience a significant interruption to daily business operations and damage to their corporate reputation.
Common wire fraud scams against businesses
Business Email Compromise - In an effort to gain the target's trust a criminal will send an email that looks legitimate. The email appears to be a known source like a vendor or a CEO. The cybercriminal may ask for confidential information or ask you to make changes to your account. The email might even send along an email attachment, malicious advertisement, or fake software installment containing malware (including ransomware). The malicious software can infect your computer giving the criminal undetected access to extract data that can be leveraged for financial gain.
Any business, of any size, can become a victim of cybercrime. Fortunately, there are strategies you can put in place to help manage cyber security risks.
Essential steps to protect your business from wire fraud
Educate your employees - Employees are your first line of defense against wire fraud so train them to identify and report emails that appear to be fraudulent. Oftentimes, the domain in the email will be slightly modified so it's not as easily detected.
Verify the source - Make a quick phone call to the employee/person requesting the information.
Establish escalation protocols - An escalation policy will ensure that an incident of wire fraud is identified and resolved as quickly as possible. Time truly is money when it comes to protecting your business from wire fraud scams.
The scams conducted by cybercriminals can be devastating to businesses but can be avoided with the proper precautions and protocols in place. If your business does fall victim to wire fraud be sure to act quickly. Immediately contact your IT department, financial institution, and law enforcement agency. This will provide you the best chance at negating the attack and/or recovering stolen money.
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