Help protect your business from scammers with these First Federal products:
Scammer Tactics
- Scammers pretend to be someone you trust. They can pretend to be a vendor you’re familiar with or a customer who is interested in your business.
- Scammers create a sense of urgency hoping that you will not have time to think through the situation fully and asks questions.
- Scammers use intimidation or fear. They may try to tell you something bad is going to happen if you don’t do what is asked. This creates a sense of urgency to get the payment sent to avoid something bad happening.
- Scammers use untraceable payment methods. Wire Transfers and gift cards are nearly impossible to reverse or trace so they are the favorite payment method of scammers.
Fake Invoice Scams
Scammers can create fake invoices that may look legitimate. They can create invoices for things that your business may find critical, like keeping your website running or a supply that is critical to your business. This creates urgency to get the invoice paid, but if you pay, your money may be gone.
What to do:
- Check all invoices closely. Never pay the bill unless you are certain it is for something you actually ordered, a service that you actually received, etc.
- Make sure you have a procedure in place for reviewing and approving invoices. Limit the number of people who are authorized to pay invoices.
- Pay attention to how the invoice is being paid. If a wire transfer, reloadable card, or gift card is requested it can be a scam!
- If existing vendor payment information changes, call the vendor to verify (new address to send payment to, new vendor account number for ACH payments, etc.) the information before processing the payment.
Social Engineering Scams
Phone numbers can be spoofed so don’t count on the caller ID to confirm who you are speaking to. Imposters can call claiming to be a vendor that you do business with and can even change the phone number to make it appear legitimate. When in doubt, hang up and call the vendor back using the number you have for the vendor or check their valid website to find contact information.
Email addresses and websites that look legitimate are easy for scammers to fake. Stop and think before you click! Don’t open attachments or download files from unexpected emails; they may have viruses that can harm your computer and put your company’s info at risk!
Secure your files, passwords, and financial information so they cannot be compromised.
Check Fraud
Check fraud refers to any type of fraud that relies on paper checks to steal money from individuals or businesses. Checks can be altered, forged, or counterfeited.
It is important to:
- Check your account regularly
- Reconcile your account(s)
- Report any suspicious items to the bank immediately
