News & Notes Tips To Foil Small-Business Fraud (NAPSA)—Afew precautions can be a big help in makingit harder to commit fraud. According to a recent SunTrust Bank and National Association survey, 84 percent of small-business owners are concerned with fraud in connection with their businesses, and this trend is rising. Here are several tips any business owner can use to protect his or her investment: Hire the right employees —Always conduct background checks for employees, especially those dealing with inventory or money. Also, call references and Small businesses can get a big hand in protecting their assets with a few sensible procedures. employee to commit fraud without ployers do not take advantage of these glimpses into an employee’s being caught. e Consider using an automated banking service—One such service, offered by SunTrust, ances—One hand should never wash the other when it comes to on their deposit accounts. verify credentials; too often, em- past. Set up checks and bal- business. It is important to have checks and balances in place to prevent stealing and embezzling. For example, the person writing the checks should never be the same person balancing the books. Have a fraud policy in place with a fraud hotline— Starting from new employeeorientation and continuing through newsletters and meetings, make sure you instill a fraud policy in your office. Doing so will ensure that employees know from day one that fraudulent activities and stealing will not be tolerated. A fraud hotline also promotes vigilance, and the Association of Cer- tified Fraud Examiners has found that companies with fraud hotlines have approximately 50 per- cent less in losses due to fraud. Have assignment rota- tions-—If your businessallowsit, rotate employee assignments. When roles are consistently changed, it makes it harder for an features Fraud Inspector, which helps small-business owners to identify and curb potential fraud e Protect your wireless network—Online hackers have become quite good at breaking into unsecured wireless networks and stealing private customer and business information. Protect your business and customers by changing the default password on your network and encrypting your wireless network with WPA (WiFi-Protected Access). e Pay attention when mak- ing online transactions—Be aware of the Website’s privacy and security policy if your business conducts online transactions. Also, always make sure you are entering your information into a securesite. A good way to determineif a site is secure is to look at the URL address. Ensure that the URL is entered correctly and thatit starts with https://, not just http://. The “s” meansthat the site is secure. To learn more about protecting your small business from fraud, visit www.suntrust.com/foilfraud.
