ACH and Wire Fraud Awareness
Fraudsters are always refining their tactics and as a result, ACH and wire fraud scams are on the rise. Here are signs to be aware of and tips to help protect your business.
One increasingly common scam includes the scenario where a business receives an email request for a change in payment instructions that seems to be sent from a trusted vendor. In reality, the email is sent by a fraudster who has taken over the vendor's email account or is impersonating the vendor.
The email takeover and the change in payment instructions often happens in the middle of an email conversation, making it very hard to detect. At the end of the email exchange, the business sends an electronic payment to their vendor, only to later find out the money was sent to the fraudster.
Although this is the most common scam, there are many other scams that use similar approaches to convince you to send someone an electronic payment. These payment forms are favored by fraudsters because once an ACH transaction or wire transfer is originated in online banking, the funds are removed from the account and sent to the recipient. If you determine later that you have been a victim of a scam, it is unlikely these funds can be recovered.
Best Practices to Help Protect Your Business
To help protect your business, we recommend implementing the following best practices:
- Verify by phone before you send funds. Never initiate any payment changes based only on email or text communication. Call the vendor, business partner, or colleague directly to verify the payment information. Use previously known numbers that you know to be correct and not phone numbers provided in an email or text request.
- Require dual approvals for payments. Establish a process to require a second person to double check the transaction and transfer instructions.
- Review your insurance coverage. Check to see if your business is covered for financial losses resulting from this type of scam.
The information contained in this article should not be construed as financial, legal or tax advice, and may not be reflective of terms and features currently offered by Enterprise Bank. Please contact us for details on current product offerings and rates.
If you think you are the victim of fraud related to your account with Enterprise Bank, please contact the Bank’s Call Center at 978-459-9000 or toll-free at 877-671-2265. For additional information on how to protect your accounts, visit https://www.enterprisebanking.com/security.