Businesses and Internet Fraud

Over the years, we have filled the newsletter with information on fraudulent schemes aimed at consumers—we’ve discussed everything from Canadian Lottery scams to issues dealing with identity theft.

In this issue, we’d like to take a moment to discuss online fraud aimed at our commercial customers. It seems that hackers are concentrating on computers at smaller firms these days, believing them to be less protected and, therefore, easier to infiltrate.

Computers can be infiltrated by malware that enables the criminal to access login IDs and passwords. Anti-virus software, an absolute must-have item, is effective but NOT 100% effective.

Here are a few other suggestions:

1. Most experts strongly advise doing online banking from a dedicated computer, one that is not used for anything else—no e-mail or web surfing and one that isn’t even connected to the local network.

2. It is also recommended that an operating system other than Microsoft be used or that a less popular browser, such as Opera, be used as malware is most often designed for the most popular applications.

3. Security settings on your computer should be used to maximize protection. Check with your IT people.

4. Use your internet banking to check balances, activity and scheduled payments regularly, especially at the end of the business day. Contact us immediately if anything is amiss! Timely action could prevent the completion of a fraudulent transaction.

Want more information? Just Google “Internet Banking Fraud” to see what steps you can take to ensure your security.