Protect Your Business From Identity Theft
Business identity theft can be difficult to detect because of the complexity of business dealings. Once fraudsters obtain access to a company’s sensitive financial information, they are often able to establish lines of credit and make purchases that can be detrimental to a business and their credit history. This article highlights several methods fraudsters use to steal a company’s identity, warning signs of identity theft and ways your business can be better protected from fraud.
How Business Identity Theft Occurs
Fraudsters are becoming increasingly inventive when it comes to trying to steal a company’s identity. According to Javelin’s 2024 Identity Fraud Study, reports of identity theft have sharply risen over the past decade. To help minimize or prevent potential financial damages, it is important to know how identity theft can occur. Below are common tactics criminals may employ:
Data Breaches — Criminals may attempt to breach your company’s data security and gain unauthorized entry to financial records. These breaches compromise nearly all types of information, including proprietary business details, financial records and customer data.
Phishing Attacks — Deceptive emails are sent to employees in an attempt to trick them into providing privileged information or clicking malicious links. More targeted phishing emails, known as Spear-Phishing attacks, are customized to target specific employees or job-role types using publicly available information.
Business Email Compromise — A particularly damaging tactic is when a fraudster gains access over a company’s email account and attempts to direct an employee to make unauthorized transactions. This type of scam is difficult to detect and often results in significant financial loss.
The Red Flags of Business Identity Theft
Every business can become a target for identity theft. How quickly your company is able to recognize the signs of fraud and take action towards assessing and minimizing potential damages can be a difference maker in protecting your business. A few common signs you and your employees can be on the lookout for include:
Suspicious Communications — Beware of any unusual communications requesting account information or other types of sensitive information. The rule of thumb is to always confirm the authenticity of emails before replying, avoid clicking any attachments or embedded links in messages and verify the identity of callers by calling them back on a known, established number of the company to confirm the validity of the call.
Unexpected Account Changes — New accounts opened, improper updates to contact information or unauthorized transactions can be telltale signs of identity theft.
Unapproved Invoices or Receipts — Invoices/receipts for products or services that were not knowingly purchased could be attempts to steal your business identity or financial information.
Sudden Alerts from Creditors or Your Financial Institution — Many companies will alert you to unusual activity on your account(s) or changes to credit scores.
If you or your employees become aware of any of these red flags, report the activity to the appropriate parties and take action to prevent possible damage to your business.
Better Protect Your Business From Fraud
The best way to be prepared for potential business identity theft is to put practices into place to mitigate the risk of being defrauded and educate employees on potential scams.
Regularly review your data security protocols to stay current with emerging trends in fraud and to fortify any existing cybersecurity defenses. Having strong infrastructure, such as multi-factor authentication, robust password requirements, data encryption services, etc., will make it much more difficult for cybercriminals to access your company’s safeguarded information. Additionally, it’s a good idea to routinely coach employees on simple, yet powerful best practices so they know how to avoid and appropriately report scam attempts.
Keeping your business account information safe is a top priority at Trustmark. That’s why we offer services like myTrustmark® BUSINESS online banking to help protect your business. Authorized account holders can enjoy 24/7 secure access to their business account, create custom alerts of account activity, make transfers, retrieve account history, enter stop payments and much more. Additional services to help detect fraud before it happens include:
- ACH Alert — avoid transactional disruptions and save time by using an approved list of your trusted ACH accounts.
- Positive Pay — compare checks presented for payment against your check-issued file and receive a daily report of any unauthorized activity.
- Reverse Positive Pay — review checks prior to authorizing payment.
Contact our Corporate Treasury Services team today at cts@trustmark.com to learn more about these and other services designed specifically to meet the needs of your business.
As a reminder, Trustmark will never request confidential information via text, email, social media or phone. However, we may ask you for your information to verify your identity if you call us. If you or your employees receive any unsolicited messages, emails or phone calls allegedly from Trustmark requesting confidential information, contact us immediately at 800.243.2524, Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. CST.