Over the last couple of years, IAM has seen in increase in Receivable Protection Program (RPP) complaints regarding unpaid invoices which were due to fraudulent activity. In one particular case, IAM received two separate RPP claims against the same company regarding unpaid invoices. In both cases, the adverse party (“Company C”) alleged that they had sent the money to pay the invoices.

Throughout the course of IAM’s investigation, both claimants (“Company A” and “Company B”) alleged that emails were intercepted and banking information was changed. Company C allegedly then sent payment using these altered banking instructions, and Company A and Company B never received the money. In both cases, there is an alternative email involved that provided fraudulent banking information.

This case ultimately went before IAM’s Ethics Council. The Council ruled that Company C was still liable for the debts owed to Company A and Company B. Company C did settle their debt with both companies. Given that IAM is seeing increased RPP claims with similar scenarios, IAM’s Ethics Council instructed IAM staff to educate the membership about how to prevent these types of cybersecurity breaches.

IAM staff partnered with cyber security expert Dave Newell, Founder & CEO of Loptr LLC, to develop a webinar entitled, Don’t Let the Bad Guys Move In—Top 10 Cyber Tips for Fraud Prevention to Protect Your Moving Company. The session aired on May 5, 2021 and is available now ON DEMAND on IAM Learning. In the session, Dave provided advice on how to protect your company from business email compromise (BEC), which is an email message from a bad guy that appears to come from a known source and makes what appears to be a legitimate request for payment. If a payment is made to this fraudulent account, the money goes to the bad guy and is extremely difficult or impossible to recover.

In the moving industry, since business between companies is often conducted over email, it is particularly important that all employees know how to spot any red flags. One of Dave’s tips details how to train staff to spot tampering and the need to increase overall awareness company-wide to prevent cyber security fraud.

In the webcast, Dave also shares his BEC avoidance checklist. Cybersecurity is more than an IT issue—it affects all departments, with the finance function being most vulnerable. Given that many employees have multiple roles at a company, it’s important that everyone be aware of how to protect themselves and the company against fraud.

To access IAM’s webinar on cyber security, please go to:

Cyber Tips for Fraud Prevention to Protect Your Moving Company IAM Learning (pathlms.com)