Owner/Operator businesses should obviously be insured for the most catastrophic events, but many owners after speaking with their banks are finding all the money in their business bank accounts vulnerable to more modern crimes. We have heard too often, “you mean if a hacker gets my bank account password and wires money out of the country, no one is going to give me my money back?”.
What to do:
1.) Check your Package policy to see if you have any coverage for money transferred from your bank. If covered, are the limits high enough based on your typical bank balance.
2.) If you have Network Security coverage (some call this “cyber” coverage), check to see if that coverage affords any protection in the event money is transferred from your bank account. You will find that most policies only offer third third-party liability coverage associated with customer credit cards, employee files, and other private data being stolen when assumed safe. The main purpose of this type of policy is to make the third-party (your customer or employee’s) whole, not you.
3.) Buy coverage for Funds Transfer Fraud and Excess Crime. This policy offers much higher limits for general crime while giving you protection in case your bank account is accessed and the money is transferred (wired) offshore.
5 Fraud Facts:
- Malware, virus’s, email phishing, and even the recent Heartbleed bug affecting openSSL can make access to your bank account possible.
- It’s difficult to absorb that kind of financial impact caused by your business bank account being depleted of funds.
- Smaller companies often are more vulnerable to fraud because they may lack financial controls that larger companies typically employ.
- A fraud scheme could go undetected for years and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars or more.
- Workplace fraud is commonplace, and your company can be victimized by anyone – even a “trusted” employee.
Basic Definitions:
- Funds transfer fraud coverage – Provides insurance if a financial institution transfers money or securities based on fraudulent documentation purported to have been sent by your organization.
- Employee theft coverage – Provides insurance for losses of money or securities that have been embezzled by an employee through acts of theft or forgery.
Buying additional protection is easy. Preferred Quotes are available by simply returning the application found at the button above.
Note: To see the actual coverages you should always refer to the actual insurance policies language and terms.