Incidents of check washing and payment fraud are on the rise putting governmental entities, including CORSA members, at risk. We must remain vigilant during the summer vacation and holiday season to reduce the risk of being a fraud victim. Check washing is an old but effective way to steal public funds. Thieves get possession of a paper check, typically through the mail, then use chemicals to "wash" the payee name off the check and make themselves the payee. Then, cash or deposit the check to steal the County's money. Attached is a brief a brief overview prepared by the American Banker's Association Foundation with recommended measures to combat check washing. Similarly, payment fraud by phishing and/or business email compromise (BEC) is on the rise. This is where the objective of "re-directing" money to a bad actor, a cybercriminal pretending to be a vendor or employee of the government and then re-directing funds into fraudulent accounts. In these BEC/"re-direct" schemes the cybercriminal impersonates a trusted vendor, business partner or employee in an email and requests a change to the bank account, investment account, or a transfer of funds to a specified bank account unaffiliated with the legitimate business. Attached is an Ohio Auditor of State Bulletin 2024-003 on this topic that include preventative measures. CORSA, like the AOS, strongly encourages members consider enrollment in the anti-fraud services Positive Pay and ACH Positive Pay. Should you have questions about check washing, payment fraud, or CORSA risk management services please contact me. Frank Hatfield CORSA Assistant Director fhatfield@ccao.org<mailto:fhatfield@ccao.org> 614-560-1474 614-220-0209 Fax www.corsa.org<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/www.corsa.org/__;!!Op5JcThCjWm-UA!zzz1QnDE...> [cid:image001.png@01DAC89F.92081750] " The leader in providing Ohio Counties with exceptional value, service, and protection of assets." CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This e-mail message (including any attachments) is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy this message and all attachments.
