Verify Each Check with Positive Pay

Business fraud is relentless. Scammers have learned how to set up automated systems that bombard a business with digital attacks designed to obtain confidential information. These attacks continue until the business “cracks” or until the fraudsters give up because they can’t “get in.”

This begs the question – can fraudsters hack into your business? Firewalls, 2-factor authentication, and strong passwords are all important elements in security, but are your people prepared? These days fraudsters usually don’t get in by hacking a code, but rather by hacking a human.

Hacking the Human

Scammers have learned that it is far more effective to get employees to give them access to sensitive information rather than to find it themselves. You may ask, “What employee would actually give over sensitive information?!” The truth is, in almost every successful business scam, employees give fraudsters the information they need but don’t realize what they are doing.

There are all kinds of tactics used to pull off these scams. Scammers like to masquerade as legitimate companies and send what looks to be an official email that requests recipients to "update" or "verify" sensitive information. When these links are clicked, hackers are able to get into computers or networks and steal sensitive data. They can eventually initiate ACH transfers to their own accounts.

Other times, they will send what looks like a legitimate invoice. These invoices often have discrepancies from legitimate invoices, such as different banking account details than your typical vendor, unusual item descriptions, unfamiliar service providers, or unexpected charges.

Verifying Transactions

There are so many transactions for a business that it can be overwhelming to manage it all. Our solution at Southside Bank is called Positive Pay.

With Positive Pay, we help business managers maintain control of ACH debits and any checks presented for payment to their business to prevent fraudulent transactions. There are three ways that this product can help keep your business secure:

1. ACH Positive Pay: Our system compares attempted ACH debits to preauthorized profiles, allowing it to post if coming from a preauthorized company or allowing you to verify the debit if coming from an unauthorized source.
2. Check Positive Pay: We compare the checks presented for payment each day with a check issue file, reporting any exceptions for you to decide whether to pay or not. You can also set up an account to reject any checks presented, ensuring that accounts intended only for electronic transactions reject forged checks.
3. ACH Blocks: Whether at implementation of a new account or for accounts already in place, we can systematically prevent any ACH debit from posting to certain accounts.

Get Started with Positive Pay

We understand how important security is to business owners, and you can add additional layers of security with our Positive Pay product. Our advanced fraud protection services reduce risk and give you confidence that your business and money will remain secure.

Learn more by talking with your relationship manager or by visiting southside.com/positivepay.