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As the school term draws to a close, finance teams across the sector face a busy period of finalising the academic year and preparing for the autumn term. Unfortunately, this busy time presents a prime opportunity for fraudsters and scammers looking to exploit potential lapses in vigilance.
Safeguard your School's systems against fraud and scams with our best practice tips.
Be alert to phishing attempts
Scammers often use phishing emails to trick finance teams into releasing sensitive information or making unauthorised payments. These are frequently presented as urgent financial transactions or requests for updates to payment details. As scammers become more sophisticated in their methods of impersonation, watch out for any requests that claim to come from trusted sources that you don't expect. It's essential to verify the authenticity of any requests for financial transactions or updates to payment details through a trusted channel before taking any action.
Handling requests for employee details
Employees may wish to update their bank and contact details throughout the summer holidays. To verify that the details come from the correct individuals, those responsible for uploading and authorising this type of change within your establishment should always check with the individual who raised the request before amending bank details with your payroll provider.
Verify supplier details
To ensure an extra layer of security, ensure your supplier payment details are verified before taking action, especially if you receive notifications about changes to bank accounts or payment methods. When working with suppliers, contact them directly to ensure that any change requests are legitimate. Only use your known contact details for the supplier to verify details, as any contact provided in the request may be false.
Monitor financial transactions
A regular review of financial transactions will flag any unusual or unauthorised activities on your School account. Carrying out extra checks of recent transactions will help you spot irregular payments and raise these as a concern, preventing significant losses from occurring. To add a layer of security to your financial systems, ensure that multi-factor authentication has been implemented.
Train staff in fraud awareness
Defence against fraudulent activity is as strong as your least vigilant team member. Therefore, educating your finance team and relevant staff about common scams and fraud tactics is essential. Ensuring that your teams are all up to date on the latest threats and scam tactics will reduce everybody's risk of falling victim. Host regular training sessions to ensure everyone is on the same page when it comes to increasing security measures.
Establish clear procedures
Having documented procedures for authorising financial transactions will ensure that your team follows clear procedures, preventing room for guesswork and standardising your process. Multiple levels of approval and a robust checks-and-balances system will reduce the margin for error and provide extra vigilance when authorising payments.
By staying vigilant and implementing additional protective measures, your school finance teams will be equipped to safeguard schools and trusts against the risk of fraud and scams during the end-of-term rush. Prioritising security and due diligence will ensure your School's finances remain secure and well-managed.
