Fraud and Security

What to Expect When Fraud Strikes Your Business

According to a comprehensive survey, 80 percent of American organizations were victims of payment fraud attacks or attempts in 2023. That’s up 15 percent from the previous year, and nearly a third of all business victims were unable to recover the lost funds. Pinnacle publishes a lot of advice about how to avoid fraud and keep your data safe. But what happens when, despite everyone’s best preventive efforts, fraud strikes your business?

How to Protect Your Business from Check and Payments Fraud

You may have seen the recent headline about a massive fraud scheme led by a small group of postal workers. While paper checks can increase the risk of fraud, they're an essential tool for many businesses and their customers. We offer some ways you can protect yourself, your company and your customers.

Protect Yourself from Fraud by Verifying Payment Requests

Fraudsters pose extreme threats to our clients if we fail to know who we are working with and ensure they have the authority to provide instructions for payments or alter account information. We strongly recommend that our clients perform similar due diligence. Money sent by wire transfer is highly unlikely to be recovered. Working together, we can protect you from phony requests.

Five Ways to Reduce Fraud and Protect Your Business

Financial fraud has surged, with crooks working banks and their clients. According to Banking Journal, fraud attempts have as much as tripled since early 2020, with an ever-widening variety of new scams. Human vigilance is your front-line protection, but it's not perfect. Better to have some block-and-tackle services to help tighten security and prevent fraudulent transactions. Here are five to consider.

The Cybersecurity Landscape: A Look at Current and Future Challenges

Cyber terrorists and small-time fraudsters can wreak havoc on businesses. Beyond the annoyance is the very real potential for damaging or bankrupting your firm. In this video, our panel of experts cover the latest information about ransomware, top threat actors, how to protect your business, the growth and direction of the cybersecurity industry and more.

Business Email Compromise: A Big Problem

“Business Email Compromise” (or BEC), is becoming an all too common scam executed by cyber thieves. Criminals work to understand and monitor your business processes, request forms, and partners involved over a period of days or weeks, then they generate a highly targeted attack designed to fool you into thinking you are working with a legitimate business partner. Often times these types of scams result in a significant financial loss to the business.

Comprehensive Cyber Insurance: A New Staple for Every Business

Are you prepared for a cyberattack? You may have tech protection, but what about the losses and expenses caused by an attack? Most policies lack the coverage you would need to cover damages to yourself and your customers, not to mention the ransom you might have to pay for data recovery. Here’s what to look for when you’re shopping for coverage against cyberattacks.

Ransom-proofing Your Business

What are the real chances your data could get held for ransom? Better than you think. According to the CyberSecurity Alliance, ransomware attacks nearly doubled from 2020 to 2021, and 70 percent of all attacks target small to mid-size companies. So what can business owners do?

Protecting Your Credit in the Wake of a Security Breach

Owner-operated businesses are an ideal target for identity theft. As a sole-proprietor, the owner and the business are considered one in the same. Here is what you should do if you are the victim of a breach.

Protect Yourself from a Data Breach

In today’s environment chances are good that your card information could be compromised in the future. Here’s what to do if you’re a consumer, a merchant or another type of small business to protect yourself from a security breach.

Don’t Wait to Update

[Webinar] How to Avoid Email Scams

Unfortunately, as phishing attacks become more sophisticated, it is very difficult for the average person to tell if a message is fraudulent. Pinnacle developed a list of the "Super 6" questions you can ask yourself to help determine the legitimacy of any email.

Businesses Should Beware of Check Scams

A surge of fraudulent activity is being directed at attorneys, title companies and other businesses. Everyone should be on the alert for check scams. Read about some common scenarios and how you can protect your business.

Security Procedures for Online Account Holders

Evidence is mounting that cyber crimes are on the increase. We’ve heard about the elevated risk from law enforcement and security experts. Financial institutions across the country have experienced ACH cyber crimes. With the growth in malware and ability for fraudsters to load virus programs on unsuspecting client computers, the need for heightened awareness and protection is of extreme importance.

Making Cybersecurity a Priority

The federal government has called cyber threats one of the most serious challenges the nation faces. Find out what you can do to protect yourself online.

Destroy Data before Replacing Your PC

If you’re getting rid of an old computer or laptop, take the necessary steps to protect yourself and your identity.