Do You Know Who You Are Sending Money?

Wire transfers are an easy and fast way to send money to individuals and businesses and serve as an immediate form of payment. This is one of the reasons fraudsters request wires. Once a scammer has obtained the funds you wired, the wire transfer may not be reversed.

Here are some simple steps you can take to reduce your risk of fraud:

1. Do not send funds to an individual or business you don’t know personally or whose identity cannot be verified.
2. Beware of schemes, such as lottery winnings, etc. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
3. Double-check all payment request information before signing or approving the wire. You may receive requests or invoices with a familiar company’s name, and different payment instructions (different account numbers, location of the business, etc.)
4. Beware of threats and urgent requests- many requests cite taxes owed to the IRS or an urgent matter from a friend abroad. Scammers often make requests sound urgent or may threaten you with legal action if the funds are not received.
5. Business owners should educate employees on managing sensitive data and paying the bills by making them aware of deceiving emails or phone calls.
6. When in doubt, always verify the request. Pick up the phone and reach out to your contact to verify that the request is legitimate.