Protecting Yourself From Check Fraud
The National Bank of Indianapolis makes significant investments in robust fraud prevention tools to assist you in protecting your accounts. We want to remind you of the steps you should be taking to further prevent fraud from impacting your business.
The 2022 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey reported 71% of organizations were victims of payments fraud attacks in 2021. Checks and ACH debits were the payment methods most impacted by fraud activity (66% and 37%, respectively). To avoid becoming a victim of fraud, we encourage you to follow these best practices.
- Use the following fraud prevention tools:
- Positive Pay
- ACH Debit Filter and Debit Block
- Set up fraud alerts to notify you of suspicious activity immediately via email or text.
- Contact TreasuryManagement@nbofi.com to add these to your accounts.
- Review your accounts daily to detect unauthorized transactions and fraudulent checks. Confirm that the payee name and dollar amount match your records, as the original payee name(s) and amount are often changed by fraudsters.
- Use dark ink on checks that can’t easily be washed or altered.
- Avoid leaving open space in the payee and dollar amount sections.
- Contact your bank immediately if you suspect business account fraud. Under the Uniform Commercial Code, the burden is on the business to notify the financial institution immediately if there is a disputed transaction. Within 24 hours, all the liability for fraudulent transactions shifts to the business.
- Review your liability insurance policy and consider adding coverage for loss due to account fraud. Also, understand what fraud prevention tools you are required to use in order for your coverage to be in force.
- For Corporate Portrait Users at The National Bank of Indianapolis, take the fraud prevention training offered on the Corporate Portrait sign-in page and require your employees to take it as well. This training link is always available and should be done at least annually.
- Use electronic payment types rather than paper documents when available.
- Make sure that the authorized signers of company checks are not the same people who reconcile the account.
- Consider surprise account audits on a periodic basis.
- Never leave outgoing checks in unsupervised mailboxes.
If you believe your account at The National Bank of Indianapolis has been compromised, call your Banker or 317-261-9000 immediately.
The National Bank of Indianapolis remains committed to maintaining the highest standards in fraud prevention.
Learn more about our fraud prevention efforts at our Fraud & Security Center: