Businesses urged to remain vigilant following reports of mandate fraud

Businesses have been urged to remain vigilant after reports of fraud targeting them emerged in Leicestershire.

Police said it is aware of incidents resulting in the loss of large sums of money through mandate fraud, or Business Email Compromise (BEC), where fraudsters contact businesses claiming as their suppliers and request to amend the direct debit to reflect a change in bank accounts.

“We have had reports of a number of businesses falling victim to BEC. In some cases there have been losses of more than £1 million,” said Rebecca Hinchcliffe, of the Economic Crime Unit in Leicestershire Police.

“As a result of such losses some businesses can’t afford to continue, they have shareholders who lose faith in the business, suppliers decide they can’t trust the business as they don’t have sufficient controls in place and this may also lead to arguments between suppliers and businesses about whose system was compromised some even resorting to litigation.”

Individuals can also be targeted in this type of fraud when their online bank accounts get hacked into to alter monthly payment details so that the money is transferred to the fraudster’s account.

The force has listed some steps to reduce chances of becoming a victim to this fraud:

• If you’re a business verify all invoices, as well as requests to change bank account details. To check a request is legitimate, contact the supplier directly using established contact details you have on file.
• Access to sensitive financial information should be carefully controlled. Don’t dispose of confidential documents without shredding them first.
• Check your bank statements regularly for any suspicious transactions. If you notice anything unusual, notify your bank immediately.
• To protect important accounts, such as email, social media and shopping accounts, apply two factor authentication to account settings. This simply means when logging in, it will require an extra check in addition to the password, so even if a criminal knows your password, they won’t be able to access your accounts, as they will not be able to complete the second factor of logging in.

“If you have been the victim of a similar offence and haven’t reported it we would advise that you do so. In the first instance contact Action Fraud who will log the report and allocate it to the relevant police force,” Hinchcliffe added.