What is Business Identity Theft?

See how Biz-Trac helps to protect your business from identity theft.

WE ARE THE LEADER IN BUSINESS HIJACKING PROTECTION

Types of Business Identity Theft

BANK/CHECK FRAUD

The use of paper or digital checks to obtain money illegally from your business bank accounts

SPAM /PHISING

Phishing actively aims to steal your login credentials, and other sensitive data. Spam inundate your email with unsolicited emails to purchase goods or services.

S.O.S FAKE FILINGS

Theft, misuse and falsification of business records with the Secretary of State. Imitating business and associated directors and officers.

NET TERMS FRAUD

Fake and unauthorized accounts established to purchase goods and/or services on net 30/60/90 terms without intentions on making payments

DIRECTORS/OFFICERS

CEO Fraud is when criminals hack into company email or target accounts to impersonate the CEO, Managing Director or senior staff officers.

AP/FRAUD

Billing, check tampering, and expense disbursement schemes often perpetrated internally or externally. with the employees knowledge and aid.

Business Identity Theft: Defined

Business (or corporate) identity theft is a type of fraud that involves a criminal stealing a company’s identity and using it to purchase goods and services by establishing lines of credit with banks or retailers.

Organizations are often targeted because:

They have larger account balances
Companies have higher credit limits
Making large payments regularly isn’t suspicious
Fraud goes unnoticed or caught late because of no oversight.
Information is often readily available on the internet

Business identity theft is real. It’s a crime of economic opportunity. This is not a new area of opportunity for criminals.

Business Identity Theft and Your Business

Business identity theft and fraud losses cost American companies billions each year. Both can severely impact cash flow, cause financial problems with creditors and suppliers and even affect your business’s reputation.

Business Identity theft is about protection and prevention. Certain types of Business Identity Theft cannot be prevented. A thief could get a hold of your personal information by illegally accessing a computer, for example.

Even if you’re prudent about guarding your information, monitor your financial accounts regularly to protect your small business.

The first step in business identity theft protection is to regularly check your company’s business credit report for unusual activity that may indicate identity fraud.

Subscribe to a monitoring service of your company’s filings with the Secretary of State, so you can regularly inspect it for atypical activity that might be a sign of fraud.

Capital Oversight has a business identity theft protection service called Biz-Trac^SM which offers monthly report of corporate filing status with the Secretary of State. Biz-Trac monitors your profile each day and emails, text, or calls you of any changes to your business information.

combatting Business Fraud

Pro-Active

Perpetrators of fraud are ever constantly adapting their schemes of approach. Proactively managing the risk of fraud within your organization requires continued monitoring and assessments.

Continuous Vigilance

Fraud Awareness and Anti Fraud education should be conducted annually and consistently applied throughout your organization. An essential element is the continuously monitoring of your business public information. Continuous monitoring is esential with Biz-Trac

reporting fraud

The FTC collects reports of business identity theft. Report identity theft online at IdentityTheft.gov, or by phone at: 1-877-438-4338 (9:00 am – 8:00 pm, ET)

business id theft mitigation

Implementing the essential elements of prevention, response and detection will aid in reducing fraud. On-going fraud risk assessments should be conducted annually.

TRAINING EMPLOYEES

Educate your staff periodically on current schemes and frauds. Identify critical areas of your business that is most vulnerable. Encourage employee to report suspicious or unusual behaviors and activities.

RESTRICTED ACCESS LIMITATION

Only allow few trusted employees access to sensitive information. Tax ID numbers, DUNS Numbers, email addresses of directors and officers should be treated as critical, sensitive, and privileged.

Authenticating Trust With Confidence