Being a victim of a fraud case is becoming more common every day. However, your company is only as protected as you are prepared to fight fraud. Before you run out to get justice from a Moose Jaw fraud charges lawyer, know that there are some preventive steps you may want to consider to fight fraud. This article aims to provide you with ten pointers for fighting fraud.
Pointer-01: Check Financial Balances and Checks
Make sure to run an in-house evaluation of company finances every month. Make sure all payment amounts tie-up with all invoices; also, look for missing documents. Running spontaneous audits or organizing a third party to audit the books yearly shows employees that the company has zero-tolerance for fraud.
Pointer-02: Guard Your Computer Systems and Web Usage
Being protected when it comes to cyber presence has helped many companies stay away from fraud. Every company computer should be covered with the latest anti-virus software and firewalls. Ensure no unsafe online schemes are successful in getting confidential information about the company from you or the employees.
You get to see these fraudulent spams in emails claiming that it was sent from a financial institution or service provider.
Pointer-03: Protect Sensitive Hard Copy Documents
Digital gadgets are not the only things that you should be worried about your information. One can easily steal your mail, credit card information, or checks through the hard copies you keep in your office. Printed financial and banking statements or any other type of sensitive papers should be shredded if not necessary enough to store.
Pointer-04: Protect Your Office Appliance Such As Photocopiers
Most photocopy machines built after 2002 come with a hard drive that can stock all the images that are being scanned or copied. Therefore, when selling or upgrading the engine, everything is reconditioned except the hard drive.
Once the machine is resold, anyone can access the confidential information through the hard drive. This is why it is essential to recondition every office appliance with a memory slot before selling or upgrading.
Pointer-05: Practice Secure Online-Banking
Online banking is one of the most secure ways to manage business finances. Most well-reputed banks provide several levels of online security. With 24/7 access to banking information, account transfers, and payment management, you can effortlessly manage payments and have an audit track of all transactions.
Checking account activity regularly and instantly accessing payment histories will help you observe expenses for any form of fraudulent activities.
Pointer-06: Get Proper Insurance
Property insurance policies do not usually cover fraud-related losses, so it’s vital to protect money losses from workplace fraud. To do that, you need to get fidelity Insurance, which will cover your business against criminal acts such as forgery and credit card fraud and secure your liabilities with money loss coverage and employee dishonesty.
Pointer-07: Establish A Strict Hiring Procedures
Ensuring that you do not hire someone who will end up being a fraud, background checks are among the best rules any workplace can have. Unfortunately, research has shown that 85 percent of fraudsters display one out of the six red flags, and around 50 percent demonstrate more than one.
Identifying the behavioral warnings that a fraud perpetrator displays can help organizations spot fraud and decrease the number of losses. That being said, the process should not promote any form of stereotype and should not be used to discriminate against any race, gender, religious or ethnic group.
Pointer-08: Prepare Employees to Prevent Fraud
Once the employees have a robust code of ethics and willpower to go against all forms of fraud, it creates a strong culture at the workplace that is accustomed to the awareness of fraudulent action. As an employer, you can take this awareness to the next level by enlightening employees on identifying fraudulent activities in their everyday lives.
Pointer-09: Put a Fraud-Reporting Platform Into Practice
When employees know what signs look suspicious, employers should also get a proper way to report any alleged fraud. The most common three methods to detect fraud are tips, internal audits, and review by the management team. Employees are responsible for reporting more than half of occupational fraud cases, with the remaining reports from customers, dealers, or stakeholders.
Pointer-10: Grow the Awareness of Identification
Along with having employees agree to a conduct code, you need to regularly communicate anti-fraud guidelines to staff. Give them constant reminders of the approaches to report reservations of delinquency and the probable penalties of fraudulent activities. Keeping anti-fraud policies and practicing to prevent, recognize, and mitigate its impacts will raise awareness among the employees.
Conclusion
To sum it all up, fraudulent activities can cause you many monetary, psychological, and commercial hassle. Therefore, we believe it is better to take the necessary steps to prevent it before you become a victim. Hopefully, this article has successfully provided you with ten pointers for fighting fraud.