Farmers routinely handle high-dollar transactions — and the nature of the payments, often through unsecure methods, leaves them susceptible to foul play.
Those unsecure methods include mailing personal checks and buying parts from an unknown online vendor. However, one of the biggest fraud trends Angela Lewis, deposit control manager at Southern Bank in Chillicothe, Mo., is seeing involves how many operations handle employee payroll.
“We see employees commit fraud, especially through written checks from employers,” Lewis says. “Employees will steal the account number and routing number off the bottom of checks and create fake checks.”
Mail fraud and check washing is another tactic that can quickly drain thousands of dollars from an account.
“If you have mailed a check that was paid, but the recipient never received it, you may have been a victim of check washing. In fact, check washing is the No. 1 form of fraud we are seeing with our business customers right now,” Lewis says.
Check washing typically involves a check being stolen from a mailbox and then a scammer “washes” the check in chemicals to remove the ink and/or uses a copier to print fake copies of the check. Other criminals can then purchase the fake checks and deposit them.
To protect your operation from scammers, Lewis shares these tips:
- Use online banking. “As a business, you should enroll in and use online banking daily to review copies of all checks issued to ensure they were not altered,” she says. “Also make sure to review the backs of checks to verify the endorsement information matches your intended payee.”
- Follow up. If you are going to mail checks, make it a habit to follow up with the people or businesses to make sure they receive it.
- Switch to online payment options. Your financial institution likely offers e-checks, ACH automatic drafts or other online bill pay options.
- Confirm the goods. When it comes to making purchases from an unknown source, such as on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist, Lewis shares it’s a good idea to meet the seller in person and verify the goods prior to sending the money. “Newer scams we’re seeing involve the use of payment apps, such as Cash App, Paypal, Venmo and Zelle, and social engineering to convince people to send money for fraudulent goods or services or to send money to fraudulent accounts,” Lewis says. “Once the funds have been sent, they are difficult to recover.”
If you do fall victim to a scam, there are a number of organizations, in addition to your bank, available to help. For example, several states have a division within their department of agriculture dedicated to this type of crime.
According to the Tennessee Department of Agriculture’s public information officer Kim Doddridge, the organization’s agriculture crimes unit is responsible for tracking and investigating crimes in Tennessee related to agriculture, forestry and wildland arson, animal health and agribusinesses. While many of their cases are related to livestock cruelty, arson and equipment theft, Doddridge shares they have dealt with reports of cattle purchasing scams, cattle selling scams and email scams.
In addition, USDA’s Office of the Inspector General has a fraud hotline to report violations of laws and regulations in regard to USDA programs. These can be reported anonymously either online or by phone.
