At the Carbon County Chamber of Commerce’s June luncheon, guest speaker Chad Bishoff of Zions Bank was welcomed to present on business fraud and the steps for prevention. While Bishoff resides in the area, Zions Bank cover many regions of Utah and he was once the branch manager in Springville.
Bishoff began by stating that often, fraudsters are after money and are willing to acquire large amounts without doing much to get it. He wished to focus on businesses that are at risk of fraud.
Bishoff stated that the goal is to get people thinking about how to protect their money, both personally and from a business standpoint, in order to have financial security for themselves and for their families. He spoke on particular situations and account issues that have been noticed and some that have been prevented before the fraud could take place.
Particular types of fraud that Bishoff focused on were business email compromises, check fraud and debit card fraud. Oftentimes, the scammers will coach the individual on what to say at a financial institution. Very large amounts of money have been wired, especially on the business-side of money fraud. Bishoff explained that one of the main goals is to have various methods to protect funds and to not have an individual’s or business’ account threatened.
Verification is very important and is often overlooked. Something as simple as a phone call to verify an email may save a person or business from committing a mistake. Though the funds may be refunded in some cases, it is a long process.
In particular with business email compromises, the first step is to avoid clicking on links, especially from unknown or suspicious emails. This may allow a hacker to monitor emails for quite some time.
In regard to check and debit card fraud, a great way to avoid it is to practice discipline and utilize a credit card more often. Continuing the presentation, Bishoff also spoke on how institutions have steps in place to protect employees that may be tempted to commit fraud, while protecting those that trust their funds to the institutions at the same time.
The local Zions Bank branch is located at 45 South Carbon Avenue in Price and can be reached at (435) 637-2604. Further information on Zions Bank may be found here.