Bank To The Future: Protection From Digital Payment Fraud
August 29, 2019
Automated Clearing House (ACH) transfers are known for being efficient, fast and reliable features that are desirable to business owners as well as those committing fraud. Faster payments require faster response times to detect fraud. PYMNTS recently shared that 41 percent of surveyed respondents fell victim to fraud through both debit and credit ACH transactions. If your business uses ACH payments do you also use banking technology to protect your business against fraud?
ACH fraud is the use of the ACH network to steal money. A few of the ways this happens are:
- account takeover
- business email compromise
- gaining information from a check
The average business loss taken or attempted through payments fraud is just under $24,999, with 15% of the losses exceeding $100,000 according to the Association for Financial Professionals.
Business Protection Tip
Did you know that Businesses only have 24 hours to return a check even if it is fraud?
Most businesses quickly learn how ACH fraud happens and how to prevent it once they discover a payment has debited their account that was not authorized, or an authorized payment was sent to an unauthorized account through fraudulent “new payment instructions”. Proactive education is the best move to protect your business from those unwanted withdrawals right from the start.
Elevate Your Cyber Protection With Business Banking Tech
The Bank of San Antonio protects businesses from ACH fraud by using the right tools to enable secure banking at no cost to clients.
“We offer two innovative technological solutions to minimize the risk of an unauthorized withdrawal: ACH Filter and Image Positive Pay with Payee Name Verification. ACH Filter is an authentication tool that lets businesses submit a list of all authorized vendors. Image Positive Pay is a payment verification technology that monitors and identifies all issued checks that come through an account,” said Jennifer Lincoln, Treasury Management specialist.
The increased use of Positive Pay has contributed to the leveling off of check fraud. However, ACH and electronic payments fraud continues to rise.
“Both solutions are readily available at no additional charge. For more information about mitigating the risks of unauthorized ACH withdrawals, let’s talk and discuss the best strategies to keep your business secure.”
Educating employees that work with payments, as well as recommending internal policies and best practices is another way Jennifer helps her business clients protect against fraud. Business email compromise is a 5 billion dollar industry according to the FBI, and this type of fraud targets business employees and vendors. Her top recommended best practice is a no exception policy of phone verification with the vendor contact on file for all payment changes. A 30-second phone call can be the difference between attempted fraud or an actual loss.
We can help you implement financial solutions that can protect your business.
Get a personalized Risk Assessment for your business.
