Businesses can protect themselves from scammers
You are your own best defense against change of banking details scammers. In an increasingly digital world, it is somewhat ironic that “the best defense against change of banking detail scams is hardly digital, or very sophisticated, at all,” says Bilal Kajee, Head of Risk Management, Business and Commercial Banking at Standard Bank Group. “A simple, old fashioned phone call to the supplier or third party that you are about to pay can quietly and quickly scupper even the most sophisticated digital payment scams,” he adds. Critically, it’s important to make these calls as soon as fraud is suspected. The longer it takes to identify and report a scam involving changed banking details, the more damage can be done. Criminals will go to great lengths to prolong scams. For example, “after changing payment details, fraudsters will often continue sending businesses false statements showing how their debt is being paid down” reports Kajee. It is only when the real supplier terminate...