EDUCATION

• Theft, forgery, alteration, or misuse of checks
• Debit card fraud
  
• A successful, executed scam
• Use of personal identification to commit identity theft

• Unusual behavior. An employee starting to keep to themselves when they typically are open and friendly can raise a red flag. Or if they never take vacation or sick time in fear of being caught.
• Reconciliation issues. Missing deposits or checks can indicate issues with an employee. Be on the lookout for changes to a deposit, especially ones with cash.
• Voided transactions. Voided sales receipts could indicate that the initial sale was rung up and the business received payment. However, the payment could be in the pocket of the employee. A voided receipt can be used to cover up theft.
• Excessive refunds. Sales employees can create phony refunds to receive the money for themselves, rather than the client. If the refund is in the form of a check, be on the lookout for similar names or addresses to find a commonality for possible fraud.
• Out of Balance. Whether it is your general ledger, daily sales reports, or inventory lists, if the books are not reconciling, there could be a possible issue of theft.
• Employee expenses. If your business reimburses employees for out-of-pocket business expenses, be sure to scrutinize every receipt and expense report. If a reimbursement receipt does not seem right, be sure to investigate to be sure an employee isn’t covering something up.
• Overtime. Altering time sheets to indicate the employee worked a longer shift than they really did to benefit from overtime payment.

• Scammers pretend to be someone you trust. They make themselves seem believable by pretending to be a friend, family member, connected with a company you know, or a government agency.
• Scammers create a sense of urgency. They rush you into making a quick decision before you look into it.
• Scammers use intimidation and fear. They tell you that something terrible is about to happen to get you to send a payment before you have a chance to check out their claims.
• Scammers use untraceable payment methods. They often want payment through money transfer services, cash, reloadable cards, digital currency, or gift cards that are nearly impossible to reverse or track.

PREVENTION

• Initiate a dual control practice for handling account reconciliation, outgoing payments, as well as deposits.
• Reconcile accounts daily and monthly
• Never sign checks in advance for convenience.
• Review and update signature cards for check signing ability annually with your financial institution.
• Review system access privileges for all employees and limit authorizations to appropriate ones.
• Disable user IDs and passwords during extended leaves of absence and for temporary help when they are no longer with your company.
  

• Must be between 12 and 25 characters in length
• Must contain at least 1 letter
• Must contain at least 1 number
• Must contain the following characters +_%@!$*~"+_%@!$*~
• Cannot match or contain your Internet Banking username
• Cannot match one of the previous 4 passwords
  

• Length: a password with 12 or more characters is ideal
• Randomness: a password with random characters is more difficult than using simple words and numbers
  • ex: 7uWqMJbuvZuC!
• Passphrases: a string of words, rather than a single word used as a password
  • ex: AllSquaresAreRectanglesButTrianglesAre3Sided!
• Utilize a password management tool to create, safely store, and easily use your passwords on your computer
  

• The word “password”, “qwerty”, or very simple repetition such as “121212”
• Obvious information about you such as names, addresses, dates, and phone numbers
• Single words with a simple number at the end, such as a single digit or year
  

• Multi-factor Authentication. Login not only requires a user name and password, but you must also receive a PIN from a registered device to be order to access accounts online.
• Positive Pay. Any checks presented for payment that do not match a pre-approved electronic list you submit will result in an emailed review notification. An image of the check is available to view online and the user can make the decision to pay or reject the item. Due to increase in check fraud, Positive Pay is a valuable tool for business clients.
  
• ACH transactions. The ability to generate your business's own ACH transactions, reduces the number of written checks and allows for easy collection of funds receivable from authorized accounts.
  

RESOLUTION

• Contact the fraud units of the three major credit bureaus to place a fraud alert and/or a credit freeze on your file. The alert tells creditors to follow certain procedures before they open new accounts in your name or make changes to your existing accounts.
  

• Report the crime to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Your information is collected and safely stored for worldwide use by law enforcement agencies. The FTC will also assist you with a recovery plan.

• Order a free credit report. Federal law allows consumers to pull their credit report from each credit-reporting agency once per year. Review your report for companies you have not contacted, accounts you did not open, and debts on your account that you cannot explain. For a free copy of your credit report visit www.annualcreditreport.com.
• Close any existing accounts that have been tampered with or new ones that were established fraudulently. Be sure to have verification that all accounts have been closed and the fraudulent charges have been discharged.
  
• File a police report with your local law enforcement officials. Keep a copy of the report for your files.
  

FIRST STATE BANK AND TRUST’S SECURITY MEASURES AND SAFEGUARDS

• In person request with photo ID and signature
  
• Online through your Internet Banking login
  
• By mail with a notarized Change of Address form