DAYTON — According to the FBI, more than $3 billion was lost last year in scams that compromised business emails.
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Today, business leaders came together to learn how to protect their companies better.
“Fraudsters have become very sophisticated in their approaches and are increasingly going after our commercial clients,” Kris Edwards, head of fraud prevention at Fifth Third Bank, said.
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Edwards said that more and more criminals are now focusing their scams on businesses.
“They have larger balances, they can move more money, and they’re using social engineering in order to do so,” Edwards said.
That’s posing as a bank agent, customer, or even as a member of that organization, using that trusted name to take advantage.
“They’re actually using social media, LinkedIn, to get real employee names from my team,” Edwards said.
When these criminals scam businesses, it can also impact their customers and community too.
“I keep reminding people that these aren’t just large corporate clients. These are your churches and your local small businesses,” Edwards said.
Edwards said that, much like scams that go after individuals, stopping them often comes down to knowing about them.
“All we can do is get education out there and make sure that people are being vigilant with their financial information,” he said.
Clicking suspicious links, paying close attention to emails and always verifying that the person who you are talking with is who they say they are, are just some of the things Fifth Third Fraud Prevention team members stress to these business owners.
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