Keep Your Business Safe from Fraud

It seems there’s a new breach or publicized case of fraud discussed daily in the news, but has fraud really increased that much or is it just talked about more? Unfortunately, according to the Federal Trade Commission, it has actually increased, showing consumers reporting losing more than $10 billion to fraud in 2023, marking the first time hitting that benchmark.¹ So, how much do businesses lose to fraud each year? Turns out about 5% of revenue, with an average fraud case causing a loss of $8,300 per month for about 12 months before being detected.²

So, what’s the best line of defense? Your employees.

While there are several things your IT department could and should implement to prevent someone hacking into your business, the sad truth is that fraudsters are getting very good at what they do and many fraudulent emails will still reach your inbox.

The best defense comes down to you and your employees being vigilant to not click on emails and links you’re not expecting and to double check any type of instruction that requests changes to payments.

“A lot of fraud we’re seeing these days just comes down to people not questioning when things are out of the ordinary,” states Amy Yochum, VP Operations at CNB. “If someone receives an email stating they need payment sent by wire to a different account than where they’ve always sent it, they should pick up the phone and call that vendor to verify first. Additionally, we’re encouraging our business customers to take responsibility for really looking at their daily transactions. Our programs, such as Positive Pay, can flag questionable transactions, but ultimately, the business owner needs to approve or deny that check. We’re sending reminders to our business customers monthly and quarterly now to keep it top of mind.”

CNB has a program called KnowBe4 that’s available free to all our customers to educate them regarding tricks criminals use to commit fraud. Encourage your employees to take it to help your business avoid loss. Use this link – https://www.cnbohio.com/CAP/index.html.

_{1 Federal Trade Commission.gov}

_{2 Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, Occupational Fraud 2022: A Report to the Nations}