Blog

Business Guide to Prevent ACH Fraud

Automated Clearing House (ACH) network makes online payments quick and easy, but like all digital payment systems, it is not immune to fraud. Scammers are always working to find new ways to trick businesses into sending them money electronically.

Adopting these best practices will help protect you and your business from ACH fraud:

Put financial security procedures in place. Require two-factor authentication or dual control for electronic funds transfers.

Always be cautious of change requests or new payment information. Approach each new payment or change request with healthy skepticism. This will get you in the habit of verifying everything and will ensure you are always on guard and ready to spot a scam.

Verify by phone before you send funds. Always use the phone number you have on file to request approval. DO NOT use contact information given in emails or respond to an email to verify that a request is legitimate.

Match your payment to a legitimate invoice before paying. Before submitting payment, make sure you have a legitimate invoice on hand. Fraudsters often pose as trusted vendors when they request payments. Just because you are used to paying someone, doesn’t make every request legitimate. Make sure you have an invoice for every payment you send out and double check that each invoice is also valid.

Verify before clicking on a link. Just because a link says it is going to a legitimate website, doesn’t mean that is actually where it is taking you. Hover your curser over the link before clicking it to preview where the link will take you. If the website previewed does not match the website you are looking to go to, do not click.

Double check the email address. Scammers are becoming better at spoofing accounts and can create emails that look very similar to what you are used to seeing. They often find a company’s naming convention on their website and use that to create email addresses that are so close they could fool anyone at first glance. 

Beware when there is a sense of urgency. Scammers often create a sense of urgency with their requests to push the employee to rush to complete the task, so they don’t have time to verify legitimacy of the request. Never use a rush as an excuse to bypass your security procedures.

At First State, we’re committed to helping our customers stay on top of the latest threats to their business. If you ever question the validity of a request, reach out to our team at 402.858.1778 or onlineoperations@1fsb.bank and we’ll help you evaluate the situation.