Alliance articles

Risk Broker Speaks out After Fraud Scam

A LEADING risk broker has today spoken out on the subject of business fraud, after one of its major Plc clients was the victim of a targeted scam.

Alliance Corporate Risk Management, which has offices in both Suffolk and London, has been helping the anonymous organisation after it was tricked into paying into a false bank account.

Alliance’s client was asked to amend bank details for a particular supplier to which it pays £50,000 per month. After making a new payment, it transpired that the account had been falsely set up when someone was able to get hold of the company’s headed paper.

Following this, Alliance has seized the opportunity to stress the need for businesses to be more aware of corporate identity fraud.

“We realise that identity fraud is a growing problem and that it is now costing the UK over £2 billion every year,” said John McLaren-Stewart, Chief Executive.

“It is our understanding that a large number of businesses are naively throwing away a great deal of paper material which contains confidential information.

“In the wrong hands, this could lead to all sorts of trouble for businesses and individuals who are identified within that waste.”

According to recent statistics, some 45 per cent of companies researched were guilty of regularly discarding headed paper, while 24 pc threw away a director’s signature and 44pc disposed of whole invoices.

Organised criminals are now paying accomplices to find material within bins at various business premises.

Mr McLaren-Stewart added: “Risk management will protect your business against the majority of risks, while for fuller protection, we are also advising businesses to buy crime insurance.

“We encourage businesses to think about control systems and to ensure good working relationships with their employees as dissatisfied staff are more likely to be tempted into fraud.

“Obviously a good company policy is really vital, as is accessing as much information as you possibly can about services available to fight against fraud.”

Notes

For more information on business risk assessment, contact your account manager or email dominic.roe@allianceweb.co.uk