Since early 2020, there has been a growing volume of losses caused by increasingly sophisticated scams.

In 2020, the number of fraud, identity theft and related reports to the FTC increased more than 45% from approximately 3.12 million to 4.72 million. Reported losses from fraud grew from $1.8 billion in 2019 to over $3.3 billion in 2020.

While fraud risk has become more prevalent for organizations, detecting and investigating these incidents have also become more difficult.

The most effective way to limit fraud loss is to prevent it from occurring in the first place. While not all-encompassing, using this checklist can help you protect your business:

Fraud Prevention Checklist

• Never trust caller ID. If you’re unsure, hang up and call them back at the official phone number.

• Email addresses and websites that look legitimate are easy for scammers to fake — think before you click.

• Require security training for anyone on your computer network — including employees, contractors and vendors. Refresh training regularly.

• Restrict employee access and regularly review access privileges.

• Set up a hotline or incident reporting system for employees to use anonymously.

• Implement and regularly update anti-virus, anti-malware and anti-spyware software, and install hardware and software firewalls.

• Have a third-party fraud risk assessment study done by an experienced professional, like Asher Security, on an annual or bi-annual basis.

• Review your insurance coverage for coverage of data breaches and system failures.

• Establish and regularly test disaster recovery and business continuity plans.