Securing Online Transactions: GABB Sept. 28
When you’re transmitting a large sum of money electronically, how can you be sure your money gets to the right place?
Ricky Robertson, Atlantic Capital Bank’s Operational Risk Manager, discussed ways that businesses you can protect themselves and their clients from wire transfer fraud at the Sept. 28 meeting of the Georgia Association of Business Brokers.
A closing should mean that the seller gets paid. Usually, the buyer wires in their down payment, the attorney develops and sends out a closing statement the day before the closing, and everyone agrees with his/her numbers. Unfortunately, a buyer will sometimes send over wiring instructions via email and those instructions get phished and the instructions end up in the wrong place! The buyer or the seller may lose their money; in some cases, millions of dollars.
View the discussion at this link.
Among the horror stories that emerged from the Sept. 28 discussion was that of a payment of more than a million dollars that a bank client asked be electronically transmitted to a vendor. The bank called to confirm that the client wanted to make the payment, but it turned out that the payment was not sent to a vendor but to a third party online thief. Fortunately, Robertson said, the bank was able to recover the money because of a mistake made by the thief.
Lesson learned: if something doesn’t sound right, don’t hesitate to call and double- and triple-check the facts. Too often humans want to be accommodating and agreeable, and thieves exploit that tendency, Robertson said.
Some scam artists gain access to a person’s email account, creating invisible folders, and get to know a target’s email habits. They may learn that a large payment is pending. Then they use their knowledge by sending fake emails with directions for transmitting funds.
Brian Harper, Senior Vice President and SBA Division Manager of Atlantic Capital Bank also talked about his bank’s upcoming merger with SouthState Bank.
Ricky Robertson, Atlantic Capital Bank’s Operational Risk Manager
Ricky Robertson began his career in law enforcement and spent six years as a detective concentrating mostly on investigating white collar crime. During his time in law enforcement, Ricky completed computer forensic investigations and served as the commander of the crisis negotiation team. Over the past 14 years, Ricky has worked in banking in the Information & Corporate Security fields. As Atlantic Capital Bank’s Operational Risk Manager, Ricky’s main job responsibilities include Corporate Security, Information Security, and Operational Risk. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems and earned the Certified Protection Professional certification from ASIS International.
Brian Harper, Senior Vice President and SBA Division Manager of Atlantic Capital Bank
Mr. Harper has more than 25 years of business banking and lending experience and ample experience handling multi-million dollar transactions. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Dunwoody, Junior Achievement, Georgia Lenders Quality Circle, National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders, the Georgia Association of Business Brokers, Our Lady of Assumption Church, is a coach for Murphey Candler Baseball and a board member of the Georgetown Recreation Center.
Claudia Wilson, Vice President, SBA Relationship Manager at SouthState Bank, is sponsoring the meeting.
The GABB is the state’s preeminent organization of professionals involved in the purchase and sale of businesses and franchises, and operates the state’s only real estate school devoted to business brokering. For more information about the GABB, contact GABB president Judy Mims at judy@childcare.properties or at 404-918-3666; or email diane.loupe@gabb.org or text 770-744-3639.