In a recent survey of shared services professionals from May to July 2020, 60% of respondents said that they saw an increase in phishing attempts or fraud since March, the onset of the pandemic and related lockdowns in Europe and North America.
Focusing on the respondents from enterprises with large supplier bases (those with 50,000 suppliers or more) 75% saw an increase in phishing or related fraud.
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In addition, 52% reported that Standard Operating Procedures have been disrupted. People who are out-of-work and in need of money may be turning to less scrupulous ways to get it. Insiders no longer have anyone physically looking over their shoulder, so it’s crucial to step up your controls – and ideally take controls out of people’s hands and automate them to ensure there are secure controls.
The top ways respondent said they were responding to this threat was by enhancing internal controls, including internal audit and increase awareness of fraud and improving employee communication.
Here are some responses, we have chosen to keep the respondents’ identities anonymous.
- “Everyone is briefed on any known attempts. IT is creating mock attempts to keep everyone on their toes. Vendors are going through more processes to assure identity.”
- “We've put in place additional steps such as verbally contacting the supplier to confirm banking or updating information”
- “We are minimizing new suppliers that can't be vetted before onboarding.”
- “Our ‘Emergency’ payments are carefully reviewed by the Corporate Controller.”
For more information about how Covid-19 is impacting shared services, download the report today.
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