Two things about fraud are guaranteed. It is not going away and every day, the criminals find a new way to get your money.
The Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce’s recent Third Thursday event brought in an expert from Ameris Bank, which sponsored the workshop.
Seanne Holliday, with 35 years’ experience in banking, is from the Regional Treasury serving the South and North Carolina region of Ameris Bank. She is a Certified Treasury Professional (CTP) and Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS).
“We deal with fraud from every perspective. People that are trying to find ways to deal with taking over an identity, hijacking some information,” she said.
She said a recent fraud and control survey by the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) found a staggering 80% of organizations were victims of fraud or attempted fraud in 2023. The report was based on just 1,000 businesses surveyed.
The survey found that 63% of the payment methods used in fraudulent or attempted fraudulent transactions were checks. Holliday said that was in part due to the pandemic, when a major number of transactions were being done online.
Fraudsters used that to go more old school.
“We were back to, in 2023, people washing checks and people presenting checks the old-fashioned way because people weren’t paying any attention. And we had people that were not really accustomed to it,” she explained. “If you talk to someone that’s under the age of 40, you ask them how many times they write a check, they’re like, ’what’s a check?’ So again, an easy way for people to start defrauding.”
Another large culprit was business email compromise (BEC).
“Seventy-seven percent of the business email compromise fraud is from spoof emails, 52% from domain look-alike emails, and 43% from legitimate emails taken over by a fraudster,” said Holliday. I know we teach people to hover over something if it doesn’t quite look right, if you’re not expecting it, are you hovering over it to see that the email coming from that person?”
That, said Holliday, is when employees at all levels, from the newly hired to the CEO, must learn to trust their gut instinct.
“Do they know to stop when something doesn’t feel right? Does your team react to gut reactions? Do they think ‘something’s wrong?’ Will they question something,” she asked. “So, credit a culture that empowers employees to ask questions, develop a process for validation that includes access to key executives for approval.”
She said all a bad actor needs is some basic information about a company or an employee to go on a fishing expedition. Sometimes, they locate an individual on social media who is newly hired. With a quick phone call, and some leading questions, the fraudster can get information leading to individuals higher in the company. Every bit of that information gets the criminal closer to finding a way into a company’s finances.
She said there are 12 steps every business should take to mitigate risk, including background checks on all employees and contractors, inspect bank accounts daily, have a fraud plan and evaluate it routinely, and cultivate a risk management culture within your company.
