Educating Employees on Avoiding Identity Theft and Other Fraud

May 10, 2011

An email in my business inbox this morning promises that I have been randomly selected to win 350,000 euros and all I have to do is provide my full name, age, and address.  As tempting as it is, I delete the message, but how many other employees might be tricked into responding?  These phishing emails are becoming more common, and much more sophisticated.  It used to be an Arabian Prince who was banished from his kingdom needed your help to recover his millions, and in return he would share some of his wealth if you just let him use your bank account to channel his money. 

Now, emails come from what looks like a legitimate bank that you may actually even do business with, where they are asking to verify account information because of, ironically, fraudulent activity.  I almost responded to a recent email from Chase bank, since I do have an account with them, until I realized the email didn’t come directly to me, it was a blast email to our main company email address that I am copied on.  I also never use my business email for personal stuff, so Chase wouldn’t have even known what my email at Financial Finesse was.  When I checked the bank’s website, there was a warning from the bank to actually be on the lookout for a scam email, due to a security breach of account holder information.  Wow, that’s scary!

The average victim of identity theft or a financial scam spends close to 175 hours to clear up the issue, and many of those hours are probably during their workday.  So even though your company doesn’t suffer a direct hit, there is an indirect impact from lost productive time.  How can you protect your employees?  As part of a financial education program, put a focus on identity theft.  Prevention communication can be shared either by a newsletter, paystub insert, or even an on-site workshop or online webcast.  Help employees keep their hard-earned income in their own pocket, not some scammer out to defraud an unsuspecting worker.