FISHER SHIPPING COMPANY, LLC

When local vehicle transport company Fisher Shipping discovered fraudsters making fake checks drawn on their bank accounts, they knew they needed to rev up their fraud prevention efforts. See how bankHometown Assistant Vice President, Cash Management Officer Susan Collins helped them unlock their fraud prevention potential—and stop additional fraud in its tracks.

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It’s alarming enough to keep any small business owner up at night: As many as 90% of small businesses were targeted by fraudsters in the last year.

What’s more, checks overwhelmingly remain these criminals’ payment method of choice. Just ask Fisher Shipping Company owner Dave Fisher, who in April 2022 discovered fake checks totaling nearly $20,000 drawn on the account of his Auburn-based vehicle transport company. While the fraud was spotted before funds ever left the account, Dave quickly turned to Assistant Vice President, Cash Management Officer Susan Collins and bankHometown’s advanced fraud prevention tools to get the company’s fraud protection efforts moving in the right direction.

Unfortunately, Susan says, incidents like these can wind up being just the first leg of a long journey:  Once an account number is compromised, it can cause a flood of additional fraud attempts—some of which aren’t easily detected and can lead to significant loss of funds. But the typical solution of closing the account and opening a new one brings an undesirable administrative burden for most small businesses. That’s when Susan suggests Positive Pay.

 

bankHometown’s Check Positive Pay and ACH Positive Pay offer a powerful combination of tools that work in tandem to help prevent unauthorized transactions. Check Positive Pay automatically compares checks issued to those presented against the account and flags unmatched items—including those presented at the teller line—with full customer control on whether flagged items are paid or returned. Likewise, ACH Positive Pay monitors and reviews ACH debits and credits and allows customer action on suspicious items to ensure only valid transactions are cleared. Both, Check and ACH Positive Pay are integrated with eBusiness Solutions to provide a single login.

With the addition of Positive Pay, Fisher Shipping was able to do a U-turn on fraud with an automated system that monitors their accounts and stops check and ACH fraud in its tracks—a powerful tool that has stopped tens of thousands of dollars in additional fraud attempts!

“The process was very easy to integrate into my workflow and only takes me a few minutes per week.  I’m grateful that bankHometown has this product that has given me back some peace of mind,” Dave said.

If your business needs one-on-one guidance and support on risk mitigation with effective fraud prevention solutions, call Assistant Vice President, Cash Management Officer Susan Collins at 508.499.1853 or email her at .