Fraud Fighters: Lisa

Lisa, the owner of a small accounting firm, received an email from a seemingly regular client, "Dash Co." The email, with a subject line requesting "Urgent Payment Update," asked Lisa to update their bank account information for faster processing of their monthly retainer, so she considered the request.

However, a seasoned financial professional like Lisa always double-checked. The email address looked slightly different from past communications, with an extra period after the "h" in Dash. A tiny detail, but enough to raise a red flag. Lisa wouldn't update banking information through an email, regardless of the sender.

Instead, Lisa pulled up Dash Co.'s account information from her secure client portal. The phone number listed matched the one on their website. Picking up the phone, Lisa reached a real person at Dash Co.'s accounts payable department. They confirmed they never requested an update and were unaware of the email Lisa received.

This was an ACH (Automated Clearing House) payment scam, a common tactic where fraudsters try to reroute a company's outgoing payments to their own accounts.

Lisa immediately contacted her bank's fraud department.

Explaining the situation, Lisa learned about a security feature she hadn't fully explored yet – Positive Pay. Positive Pay is a service offered by many banks that allows businesses to pre-authorize all ACH debits from their accounts. This way, only debits matching the pre-authorized information (amount, payee, date) are processed, significantly reducing the risk of fraudulent transactions.

Thankful for the information, Lisa decided to enroll her firm in Positive Pay. She also reported the attempted scam to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to help track these schemes. Lisa then sent a company-wide email warning staff about phishing attempts mimicking client emails and the importance of verifying information directly through established communication channels.

Lisa's alertness not only protected her firm from financial loss but also highlighted the importance of vigilance, especially when dealing with sensitive financial information. Learning about Positive Pay empowered her to add another layer of security to her business, potentially preventing future fraud attempts.

Lisa S.
Business Owner, Fraud Fighter

Learn about more ways ordinary people have fought fraud here.