Xoom Corporation lost $30M in a 2014 fraud attack. The US money transfer company was a victim of identity theft: they sent several transactions to scammers impersonating their employees. Cases like this are, sadly, widespread. In 2023, 96% of US companies were targeted by at least one payment fraud attempt. Could you be next? Not if you keep reading to learn about fraud prevention services!
Trustpair is the ultimate B2B fraud protection software: we use instant and ongoing account validation features to ensure you always send money to your intended third parties. Request a demo to learn more!
What are fraud protection services?
Fraud protection services are software that prevent and detect fraud. These services exist for both individuals and companies, and some come with extra identity theft insurance.
Anti-fraud tools monitor your online activity to ensure that no one defrauds you – as an individual or a company. This includes for example:
- Credit reports monitoring,
- Monitoring your bank accounts for unauthorized operations,
- Driving license and Social Security Number monitoring,
- Identity theft insurance and identity recovery assistance,
- Website and social media monitoring,
- Dark web monitoring.
One of the most prevalent online dangers nowadays is identity theft (through phishing or spoofing). Criminals impersonate you by using personal information revealed online — like your email or social security number — to contract credits, make payments, or send scam messages in your name.
That impacts companies too, as scammers can then log in your business software accounts, access confidential information, and you can fall victim to third party fraud.
With social media, it’s very easy to glean information that can be utilized for defrauding you and your company – CEO fraud is a great example of this. In this scheme, criminals impersonate your CEO or other high-level executives to ask for a wire transfer to be made. Anti-fraud software ensures that this will not happen.
When it comes to individuals, the best identity theft software is Aura, Lifelock, and Identityguard, which provide monthly theft insurance family plans, and identity theft insurance services to individuals. The best plans include monitoring of your online accounts with monthly security reports.
Different fraud protection services provide different specific services depending on their area of expertise (identity theft, credit monitoring, B2B payment fraud).
Whenever a suspicious activity is detected online, fraud detection services kick into gear to stop it before it is too late. Regardless of your plan or coverage, they should send you alerts to warn you. This helps minimize the negative impact and protects you against fraud.
When it comes to B2B protection services, this looks like:
- Protecting your passwords and sensitive information.
- Detecting cyber threats using AI.
- Monitoring financial transactions on your business bank accounts.
- Ensuring no confidential information appears online or on the Dark Web.
- Sending monthly monitoring reports.
- Checking your suppliers’ credentials before paying them (which is what Trustpair does).
Fraud protection services for businesses like Trustpair protect your payment chain from end to end. Anti-fraud software also helps streamline your processes, providing one central and secure space for your financial data.
Why is this important to protect your company in the first place? Keep reading to find out.
What types of fraud should you protect your business from?
Your business is more at risk than you’d think. Fraud is on the rise, and technology advancements (like the rise of AI) make it easier than ever for cybercriminals to commit fraud. That’s why you need a comprehensive plan against fraud and identity theft protection.
Cyberattacks are the most common nowadays, as most business activity happens online. It’s easy for criminals to breach your defenses, by hacking into your network or using social engineering techniques.
Here are some examples of what you need to be protected from:
Phishing and pharming
We’ve all received too-good-to-be-true emails prompting us to “download an antivirus” or “click on the link” that plans to reveal something exciting. These are perfect examples of phishing and pharming.
In the latter, an unsuspecting user is redirected to a website and asked to enter their username and password. Often though, the website is a copy and only serves to collect their login information so they can be reused on the real website (or sold on the Dark Web to scammers who will then commit identity theft).
In 2007, a large-scale hacking scheme targeted 50 financial institutions worldwide in a pharming attack, accessing millions of personal data on the web over 3 days. A data breach like this can cost a lot to a company, especially if it ends up going to trial.
A company whose data has leaked usually offers a free protection plan to victims for several months to protect them against identity theft. Add to this the direct and immediate cost of the fraud, and it can easily amount to several millions.
Vendor fraud
Cyber attacks can also be more targeted. In vendor fraud, scammers infiltrate your vendors’ email account and send an email asking you to “update” their bank account information.
If everything goes according to plan, each time you think you’re paying your real vendors, you’re actually wiring money to fraudsters. According to our recent fraud survey, vendor fraud is the second most popular type of fraud.
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CEO Fraud
CEO fraud is another type of widespread B2B fraud. Scammers commit identity theft by impersonating a high-level executive asking for sensitive information to be sent or a transfer to be made to a specific account.
Without the proper security processes set up, your well-meaning employees will carry out the action. In most cases, the damage is already done when anyone realizes what’s happened:
- In case of wire transfer fraud, stolen funds reimbursement is unlikely to happen, even with the best plans or identity protection services on your credit card.
- In case of data breach, the information will already be on the Dark Web,
Fraud damages your finances, but also your reputation. That’s why you need fraud protection services.
What to look for in a fraud protection service?
The best anti-fraud software features
Now you’re set on working with fraud protection services — where do you start? Each software is very different: some have a free trial with month-to-month subscriptions or can be billed annually. B2C theft protection services tend to offer a family plan as well.
These are the main features we recommend for both B2C and B2C protection services:
- Real-time risk monitoring: theft protection companies that only do vendor identity checks once every hour aren’t up to the task of fraud protection. Use a software solution that provides real-time checks for peace of mind.
- Automatic and ongoing checks: manual identity checks are time-consuming and not failproof. Using automation means increased protection and efficiency amongst your teams.
- Instant fraud detection and alerts: you want to know about it right away when something doesn’t look right, so you can kick your contingency plan into action before it is too late. It can also be useful to receive regular risk reports.
- AI-based fraud prevention: using a combination of machine learning, data mining, artificial intelligence, data analysis techniques, and pattern recognition creates 100% accurate assessments, for 100% protection and identity theft coverage.
Using fraud protection software is the most efficient and secure way to fight scammers. Trustpair has all these features (and more) to protect you against third-party fraud.
Using Trustpair to fight fraud in your company
Only 42% of organizations check banking information at various moments during the payment cycle — that is not enough and leaves you exposed to financial fraud. However, we understand planning for more checks can be resource-consuming.
That’s why Trustpair does the account validation of your third parties automatically and in real time. We use three-way matching of your suppliers’ information to ensure:
- The account is under the right name.
- The account numbers are correct.
- Both sets of information match.
With automated checks, there is no need to plan for more time in your vendor assessment process. It’s all happening seamlessly in the background.
Some of our clients are large multinational companies, so our software connects with international databases. We have access to otherwise hard-to-reach information to confirm the identity of your vendors internationally.
All of this is done automatically before the funds leave your account. With Trustpair, you always know who you are paying and receive real-time alerts in case of suspicious data changes.
The resources freed mean you can confidently plan your next strategic move, using your team for higher-value tasks. Working with cutting-edge technology with dedicated features means financial departments can monitor and mitigate risks efficiently.
We have a 100% success rate in eradicating fraud in our 300+ client companies since starting in 2017.
Key Takeaways:
- Fraud protection services protect their clients from various types of fraud like identity theft, vendor fraud, and cyber attacks. It’s an essential tool for businesses.
- Trustpair is the best anti-fraud software: we secure your B2B payment chain from end to end and use finance automation to streamline your operations.
