We?ve been focusing on tips about detecting and preventing fraud lately but let?s face it, none of those will work if you are not doing anything about what makes you vulnerable to fraud. Your weaknesses are costing you a great deal of money and the more you are not looking into what makes your organization vulnerable to fraud, the more it will cost you in the long run.
Fraud Risk Checklist of Characteristics
Do you want to know what makes your organization vulnerable to fraud? Checkout what?s written below!
- You think that fraud does not concern nor affect you. Non-profit organizations, businesses, and charities are losing millions to scams each year; because guess what, some scams are specifically designed to con a specific organization. What makes things worse is that most victims of fraud and scam aren?t even aware that they?ve been victimized. Could you be one of them?
- You believe that you don?t have time to deal with or get more information about fraud. There are tons of free fraud prevention resources You?re reading one of them now!
- You don?t have a set of procedures for authorizing purchases, paying invoices, and reviewing expenditures.
- You often agree to pay invoices and pay invoices over the phone. Have you heard of phoney invoices? Yes, they do exist!
- You often pay bills without checking if they are your legitimate bills. Paying just to get things over and done with is one loophole that scammers are forever exploiting.
- You go through frequent staffing changes. A high turn-over rate for volunteer and/or part-time staff members means more people knows how things work in your organization. It is only a matter of time before a ?trusted? colleague or staff slips and lets out crucial information that fraudsters can use against you.
- Your organization is subscribed to a lot of services. Do you know that oftentimes, companies are still charging clients long after their subscription has ended? There are also times that a fake invoice for a subscription fails getting detected because too many subscriptions means you may not be able to keep track of everything. This is how a fraudulent company creeps in to your books and becomes one of your regular bills.
- You don?t believe in reporting fraud. Some organizations simply do not report fraud because they?re ashamed or embarrassed or just don?t know what to do. Some believe that no good will come out of reporting and that it is an utter waste of time. Do not be a part of the estimated 95% of fraud victims who never report it. Law enforcement agencies and other businesses depend on you to take fraudsters off the radar and make conducting business safe for everyone.
- You don?t believe in having measures to prevent fraud. Have you heard of the phrase ?if you are not part of the solution, then you are a part of the problem?? That truly applies here. Failing to protect yourself from fraud by at least trying to prevent it is like jumping unto a lake with your ankles shackled to a big boulder. There is near no way you won?t drown. Are you sure you are fine with that?
Act fast by acting now. Read our fraud prevention and fraud detection articles to see how you can start making your organization better at deterring fraud. Don?t hesitate to contact us if you need further help. Remember, freeing your organization from fraud starts with you!
