Any business needs to have an extreme sense of vigilance in so many different areas. Whether it is in relation to your online safety, or how you conduct yourself in relation to the competition there is a lot on anybody’s plate. But arguably one of the most stressful aspects of any company is the concept of fraud. Fraud can have a major impact on a business’s operation and its finances, which therefore can impact its reputation. There are many different types of fraud, and here are a few to be on the lookout for.
Cyber Fraud
There are so many aspects of cyber fraud beyond phishing and ransomware attacks. There’s also the marketing aspects of fraud where components like domain spoofing can cause businesses great frustration. This can easily be remedied by a bot protection platform as well as other numerous approaches to preventing fraud but what we must remember is that we don’t just implement robust security measures but we also regularly reevaluate these components to see if they are doing what they should. Small businesses can easily run the risk of thinking that merely ticking off a number of key cyber fraud prevention strategies will result in a far more secure business. The reality is that with any form of cyber fraud, it is constantly evolving and therefore our approaches to cyber fraud and vigilance must evolve along with it.
Insider Fraud
If there’s one common misconception any business makes, it’s that they trust their employees too much. Of course, there’s a lot to be said for businesses to hand over autonomy to their employees, but when we’re talking about the topic of fraud, employees can misuse company funds for personal gain or steal company information to benefit a competitor. When an employee is committing fraud, you must be aware of the most common telltale signs. For example, do they work late and start very early? Do they take very few holidays? Insider fraud can be one of the more devastating aspects of dealing with difficult employees because we can feel that we haven’t just overlooked our employees or trusted them too much, but the process of letting someone go that we believed in wholeheartedly can make us reevaluate our approaches to hiring people. Instead, this needs to be less and in a far more robust hiring process and checking employees’ backgrounds for any form of fraudulent activity.
Identity Theft
There are two key areas of identity theft that we must be aware of. Employee identity theft is where people will pose as an employee to gain access to company resources. This is particularly hard to keep track of with employees that are working remotely. Additionally, there is the potential for vendor identity theft where criminals can impersonate vendors. Businesses must have a solid vetting process with regards to liaising with other vendors to make sure that they’re not just working with them effectively, but are also making sure they are putting their trust in someone else.
There are so many areas in relation to fraud that we must be vigilant about, but as long as you implement the right security measures and recognize that security is a multifaceted concept, you will be able to work more effectively without fear of fraud.