As a business, there are many ways you can lose money. It is becoming increasingly common nowadays to lose it to fraud. This is mainly because of the rise of digital transactions. Instead of face-to-face payments, people are now paying online and via credit cards, methods through which your business can be cheated. This is why you need to be much smarter nowadays when it comes to dealing with customers. Here’s how you can avoid losing money to frauds:
Build a Profile
When it comes to fraud, there are certain areas of your business where it is possible for fraud to occur. This is where a risk profile of your business is essential. It helps pinpoint where fraud can most likely happen and allows you to focus your attention there. Don’t just focus on customer fraud either. Your employees might be trying to steal from you, too. With a proper profile, you can start the foundation of an anti-fraud plan for your company.
Constant Auditing and Monitoring
The best way to beat fraud is by being alert. When it comes to business processes, regular audits can be worth much money. This is because they can detect signs of theft and lax management. Monitoring also helps when dealing with transactions so that you might flag those that are suspicious. Both monitoring and auditing can be time-consuming and expensive. But despite these problems, they can show results. You can use the profile you formulated earlier to see what should be audited and what are potential signs of fraud.
Reduce Opportunities
The profile on potential fraud sources will also be beneficial here. The best way to stop fraud is to prevent it from happening at all. This is why you should use your profile to close the vulnerabilities in your process. Try to come up with an alternative or to install software that will help.
Train Your Employees
One of the key factors in stopping fraud is your employees. They will be the ones checking out the transactions and handling them. This is why taking a risk discovery and fraud prevention course is essential. During these courses, your people will be trained to identify warning signs and suspicious activity. Though there is software that will help detect fraud, your employees will still be the primary source of information on potential fraud. If they see the signs, they can then move and implement anti-fraud procedures.
Open Communication
When fraud is detected, it involves the entire company, not just the leadership. This is why you need to have clear lines of communication. If an employee detects fraud, they need to know which person to notify. One of the primary recipients should be top management – including you. This allows you to make decisions.
Most of the time, a business is cheated because it is not careful when it does its transactions. With the tips above, you will be able to reduce much of the risk that you face when making digital sales. However, you still need to be on your toes and keep up with security trends if you want to ensure your company won’t be defrauded in the future.
