Being Careful of Business Identity Theft
Most individuals know of the risk of identity theft, but it’s important for anyone that owns a company or that works in the accounting or human resources department to be aware of the threat of business identity theft. This crime has happened to even some of the largest companies today and can happen to you and your company as well, if you’re not careful. Many of the steps that individuals take to protect themselves are very similar or the same as one can take to avoid business identity theft. Let’s talk about some of these things here.
For one thing, “dumpster divers” or those who root around in the trash or in landfills for paperwork and anything else that might have sensitive information pose a threat of business identity theft. They know to check for dumpsters in the parking lot of buildings for not only paperwork but old computers, CDs, floppy disks, and anything else that might have information they can scour for business account information and so on. The practice of shredding paperwork before it gets thrown away actually started with business identity theft, as it was found out that people were not above picking through trash of businesses, hospitals, doctor’s offices, and so on. Retail stores also needed to protect themselves and began tearing up papers before they got tossed.
Accountants often do the business financials online, and checking information on a regular basis this way is another tool to avoid business identity theft. Individuals are encouraged to check their bank account and credit card balances online as often as possible, and this should be done for businesses as well. It may be more difficult for larger companies, but staying on top of charges, transactions, and everything else is important to avoid business identity theft. It’s also imperative for a business owner to do this himself or herself. You may hire an accountant or someone else you think you can trust but sometimes bad things happen right under an owner’s nose, and this include business identity theft by someone you thought you could trust. It’s imperative that there be more than one person responsible for double-checking these accounts and at least one of those people should be the business owner.
Many companies are also purchasing insurance to protect them from the cost of recovering from business identity theft. An insurance company can’t guarantee that this will never happen to a company but considering the time, effort, and cost of fixing such a problem this type of insurance policy may be a good idea. It can often take hundreds of hours and hundreds of dollars to fix any case of business identity theft, and a good insurance policy can reimburse a business owner from these costs and lost time as well. Usually insurance carriers that provide other types of policies for a business can also provide insurance for business identity theft, and you may also get a discount if you have several policies with one company.
