By Yannick Perrottet
Large for-profit businesses aren't the only ones susceptible to online fraud and data breaches. Hackers also target nonprofits, seeking access to financial files and other sensitive data. The need for online security is growing as nonprofits find they run not only the risk of losing money, but also donor trust if someone breaches their systems.
The Competition Bureau, along with the
Fraud Prevention Forum, plays a significant role in helping Canadians get the information they need to be informed and confident consumers.
1 Consumers also have a role in stopping fraud by arming themselves with the facts and reporting fraud when they encounter it.
There is no typical fraud victim in Canada. Fraud targets Canadians of all ages and from all walks of life. Recognizing fraud is the first step to better protecting yourself.
2
Fraudsters are professional criminals that know what they are doing, they rely on some basic techniques to be successful. These include:
- developing professional-looking marketing materials and communications (ie. Emails, text messages, social media posts, etc …
- providing convincing and knowledgeable answers for your verification questions
- impersonating government agencies, legitimate businesses, websites, charities, and causes
- pretending to be your ordinary supplier
- hiding the actual details in the fine print preying on areas of vulnerability, including those needing help with loans or finding employment
- asking for fees in advance of promised services
- threatening legal action to collect on alleged contracts
- falsely claiming affiliation with reliable sources, such as legitimate news sites to support their products or services
- exchanging victim lists with other fraudsters2
As a non-profit or organization, you have a responsibility to assure the maximum security and safety on the payment processing environment. raisin partners with only the safest payment gateways to ensure your donors are protected. Many of these gateways offer
additional security and fraud management tools, as well. raisin is also PCI-DSS compliant, and regularly tested as part of this certfiication.
The best way to prevent fraud is to be aware and don’t hesitate to question anything that seems out of the norm: Inform all of your donors and participants to never accept a request for a cheque from us by email and never communicate their credit card or payment information via email.
Be aware! It can happen to all of us.
[1] Resources - Competition Bureau
[2] "Vision Credit Union - Protect Yourself from Fraud."