Due to the pandemic, global restlessness and diminishing income, people have started to focus on creative means to steal data/financial information which has led many cybercriminals to want their cut from these profits! One of the most popular?
The Business Process outsourcing industry.
A recent study found a big amount of online fraudsters will use BPO as their target industry in 2021 as job demand and opportunities have started to spike and take off from this industry.
Most recently, an employee of a BPO company in India managed to steal the customer data and sell it on the dark web. The information was sold for about $20,000 USD.
It’s not just big corporations that are being targeted – small businesses such as the homesourcing shops are also at risk.
To help combat these threats, we’ve outlined best practices to keep your BPO safe from fraud going into Q3 of 2021.
Robust Cybersecurity Program: Implement a company wide cybersecurity program to protect, mitigate and inform employees about the risks and consequences of fraud. These include not just setting up the technology infrastructure but different layers of protection that will reinforce employee interactions and transactions.
Knowledge and Awareness Campaigns: Train your employees for social engineering attacks by teaching them how to spot suspicious emails, phone calls or deals with customers/suppliers. A type of fraud is phishing; where employees are targeted with emails that prompt them to share sensitive or confidential data like passwords, banking details etc.
Vendor/Supplier Qualification: Conduct regular audits on suppliers’ processes (like financial data) before they’re hired so you know what their strengths are and weaknesses are ahead of time. This will help identify potential red flags early on -before it even happens.
Background Checks: Make background screening part of your hiring process in order to significantly curb down the instances of fraud by 98%.
Some cybercriminals have managed to sneak past automated processes like payrolls systems with fake identification documents as well as embezzlement schemes by using digital technology (keylogger scams). It’s important for BPOs to do background screenings before they employ anyone at all so they can be proactive about preventing risks before they happen.
Background checks are not only necessary as part of a best practice approach to hiring, but also that it delivers real value to the company’s bottom line by providing a safety insurance ROI (Preserves the safety of employees and the reputation of the enterprise.)
As things are easing back to normal, It’s alarming how easy it can be for criminals to organize access to data containing employee, company or even customer information such as bank account numbers and sensitive personal data and information. Data of which is the lifeblood of any business process outsourcing entity locally or internationally.
To know more about how to customize your background screening process for your BPO, download our FREE Guide by clicking HOME.