Corporate Account Takeover | New Tripoli Bank
FDIC logo

FDIC-Insured - Backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government

Log In× Close
Contact Us Locations

Corporate Account Takeover

New Tripoli Bank is taking measures to protect the safety and security of your accounts. Corporate account takeover is a form of corporate identity theft where cyber thieves gain access to a business’s computer system to steal confidential banking information.

How do I protect my business?

Raised awareness of the Business Email Compromise (BEC) scam will help your business detect the scam before sending payments to the fraudsters. The following tips can aid you in protecting your business:

  • Create intrusion detection system rules that flag e-mails with extensions that are similar to company e-mail. For example, legitimate e-mail of abc_company.com would flag fraudulent e-mail of abc-company.com.
  • Register all company domains that are slightly different than the actual company domain.
  • Verify changes in vendor payment location by adding additional two-factor authentication such as having a secondary sign- off by company personnel.
  • Confirm requests for transfers of funds. When using phone verification as part of the two-factor authentication, use previously known numbers, not the numbers provided in the e-mail request.
  • Know the habits of your customers, including the details of, reasons behind, and amount of payments.
  • Carefully scrutinize all e-mail requests for transfer of funds to determine if the requests are out of the ordinary.
  • Install and maintain spam filters on all computers
  • Install security updates on operating systems and all applications as they become available.
    • Perform a scan once per month.
    • Note changes in performance – dramatic loss in speed, computer locks up, unexpected rebooting, unusual pop-ups, etc.
  • Surf the internet responsibly.
  • Block pop-ups.
  • Do not use public internet access points.
  • Be on the alert for suspicious emails and never open attachments from unidentified emails.
  • Review accounts daily.
  • Train all of your employees on how to identify suspicious emails.

What do I do if my business is a victim?

If funds are transferred to a fraudulent account, it is important to act quickly:

  • Contact your financial institution immediately upon discovering the fraudulent transfer.
  • Request that your financial institution contact the corresponding financial institution where the fraudulent transfer was sent.
  • Contact your local Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) office if the wire is recent. The FBI, working with the United States Department of Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, might be able to help return or freeze the funds.
  • File a complaint, regardless of dollar loss, with www.IC3.gov.

When contacting law enforcement or filing a complaint with IC3, it is important to identify your incident as “BEC” and also consider providing the following information:

  • Originating business name
  • Originating financial institution name and address
  • Originating account number
  • Beneficiary name
  • Beneficiary financial institution name and address
  • Correspondent bank if known or applicable
  • Dates and amounts transferred
  • IP and/or e-mail address of fraudulent e-mail

Detailed descriptions of BEC incidents should include but not be limited to the following when contacting law enforcement:

  • Date and time of incidents
  • Incorrectly formatted invoices or letterheads
  • Requests for secrecy or immediate action
  • Unusual timing, requests, or wording of the fraudulent phone calls or e-mails
  • Phone numbers of the fraudulent phone calls
  • Description of any phone contact, including frequency and timing of calls
  • Foreign accents of the callers
  • Poorly worded or grammatically incorrect e-mails
  • Reports of any previous e-mail phishing activity