Accounts Receivable Fraud 

The Scheme

Your employees are the lifeblood of your business, but they also have the power to deteriorate it for their own gain. Accounts receivable fraud is purely internal, where employees steal funds, in both online and offline settings, and then alter records via fake discounting/write-offs, faulty balancing, and fraudulent debiting. One of the more common accounts receivable fraud methods is called lapping, where employees continuously steal customer payments to cover previous customer payment thefts.

The Impact

According to recent estimates, 80% of the fraud cases are asset misappropriations, including accounts receivable fraud. (Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud and Abuse. Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). 2002.)

Implement common-sense prevention strategies such as:

• Conduct all business on one or a few computers that don't allow for any other type of Internet usage
  
• Perform daily reconciliation of accounts to find unauthorized ACH debits

ACH Payment Fraud 

The Scheme

Your business can be targeted for ACH Payments fraud by employees or outside criminals. No matter who's doing the defrauding, it's one of the easiest methods of fraud to commit. ACH Payments fraud only requires a checking account number and a bank routing number, which are frequently collected from victims with the help of Trojans and other malicious software.

The Impact

In 2014, 22% of organizations were affected by ACH debits fraud while 9% experienced ACH credits fraud. (2014 AFP Payments Fraud Survey)

Implement common-sense prevention strategies such as:

• Conduct all business on one or a few computers that don't allow for any other type of Internet usage
  
• Perform daily reconciliation of accounts to find unauthorized ACH debits
• Use ACH Positive Pay services available from NB|AZ^®

Wire Fraud 

The Scheme

There are a variety of wire fraud scams that criminals use to gain access to credit cards and banks accounts. One of the most common scams is "phishing," which is where the criminal tries to acquire personal information online. Your employee receives an email from a vendor that they have worked with in the past. The email is inviting and lighthearted and attached to the email is an invoice that, if not paid immediately, is going to be charged a late payment fee. The employee rushes to pay the invoice to avoid the late fee, but doesn't realize that sender's email address isn't quite right. Now, the criminal has the information and can proceed to spend your money through either withdrawals or purchases. 

The Impact

In 2013, 14 percent of organizations were affected by wire transfer fraud. (2014 AFP Payments Fraud Survey)

Implement common-sense prevention strategies

• Call to verify all new payment instructions using a number already on your records
  
• Set transfer limits
• Use Dual Authorization controls