Best Practices for Wire Security

As the CEO of your operation, you need fast, convenient, and secure resources to conduct business. Southwest Georgia Farm Credit offers the tools you need to manage your money easily, intuitively, and comprehensively. 

What are wire transfers?  Wire transfer allows a Farm Credit customer to transfer funds, same day, to an outside account. Funds sent via wire transfer are available for immediate withdrawal by the recipient. Wires can be originated by contacting Southwest Georgia Farm Credit.

What is wire transfer fraud? Wire transfer fraud occurs when someone poses as a party in a transaction and sends wiring instructions that divert funds in that transaction from their rightful owner or recipient. Most commonly these transactions include an email that appears to be coming from the correct people, but the email address is slightly different than the regular email address.

Best Practices. Having good procedures in place can protect you and your business from being the victim of wire fraud.  The items below are an attempt to provide our clients with the “Best Practices” to ensure security and protection of funds and information.

Physical Location

• Wire-specific information, including account numbers, transaction totals, etc., should be kept in a locked drawer.
• Keep an account of all employees that have access to secure documents.

• Review your business insurance policy.  Does it cover financial losses due to cybersecurity fraud?

Wire Transfer Security

• Verify your routing number with your bank.  Some banks will have different ABA numbers for wire transfers.
• Be suspicious.  Requests for changes should always be met with security protocols by your lender.
• Make sure the representative you speak with about your wire transfer verifies your identity before action is taken.
• Use secure email, regular mail, phone, fax, or drop by one of our five branch locations instead.
• When requesting a transfer, do not divulge your full account number on documents.  Ask to be contacted by a representative to retrieve the missing information. 
• Ask to be called back by your lender upon verification that funds were transmitted.
• Wire users should regularly review processed wire transfers, account activity, and bank statements for any unusual transactions.
• Wire users should notify lender and bank immediately if suspicious activity is detected.