o p e r a t i o n s Pay m e n t s e x c h a n g e
Fr aud in the
Heartland
Think you and your small-business customers are
too obscure for scam artists? Think again
b y v i v e c a Wa r e
Viveca Ware is ICBA’s senior vice
president and director of payments
and technology policy. Reach her
W hen a business customer’s
account is breached, is it
the bank’s fault for having inad-
average $100,000 to $200,000 per victim. Criminals
can phish for information via phone calls, direct the
unsuspecting to fake Web sites, plant malware in
at viveca.ware@icba.org. equate security? Or the business’s computers through fake e-mails, even tap phones to
for allowing its information to fall pick up passwords and other useful data.
into the wrong hands? “There’s a black market in sites that sell log-in
To you, this question is prob- credentials for small businesses and individuals,” says
ably theoretical—though it still Wesley Wilhelm, senior analyst with Boston’s Aite
may keep you up at night. To one Group, a financial-research and advisory firm.
community bank in Texas, it’s all According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center,
too real. attacks on the bank accounts of small and medium-
last November, one of the size businesses are up. When a business suffers an
bank’s business customers dis- account breach, “its bank is at risk based on the busi-
covered that $800,000 from its ness’s poor security,” says Wilhelm.
account had gone to Russia and don’t think your community bank is safe because
Eastern Europe via wire transfers. it’s small or in an isolated community. “The bad guys
The bank reportedly recovered focus their efforts on what they think is lower on
almost $600,000. The business