One of the best ways to ascertain whether you need a certain cover or not is to look at a ‘real-life’ claims scenario and apply it to your business… could this happen? If the answer is yes then the next question must be ‘what is the maximum possible loss?’. Once you have worked that out then ask yourself whether you could swallow that without any disturbance to your business. Today’s example (a true story) reads as follows…
An employee is dealing with some supplier invoicing and has some correspondence from a regular supplier notifying of a change of bank details. The letter is on the same headed paper as they have always received and even has a number to call to verify the authenticity (although the number takes you through to the fraudster). Changes to the bank details are made and over the subsequent weeks three payments are released totalling close to £400,000. Discovery of the fraud occurred when the genuine supplier contacted the firm stating that they had not made any payments. The money was never recovered.
This sort of fraud is increasingly common, particularly as in the world of email and electronic paperwork a company logo, names and even signatures are readily available to fraudsters. Seemingly a legitimate piece of post can result in a significant loss. Theft by deception is not generally an insured peril and in fact on most policies (including your motor policy) theft by deception is specifically excluded. In addition the money in your bank account is not insured under your commercial policy. So what is the solution? Well we are pleased to confirm that this scenario, amongst others, can be insured under a crime policy. Other covers available under a crime policy include
- Internal Crime (fraud / dishonesty of employees)
- External Crime (forgery, counterfeiting etcetera as in the scenario above)
- Cheque Fraud (a customer altering a cheque and cashing for a higher amount)
- Computer Fraud (stealing monies, intellectual or physical property through cyber means – hacking in and getting goods delivered to a different location for example)
- Transfer Fraud (the fraudulent transfer of money)
- Corporate Card Fraud (where corporate cards are stolen and used fraudulently
There are other extensions available but the covers below are the key inclusions. Although if we go forward we will need a proposal form it is possible to get an indication of the cost with the following details
- Name
- Trade
- Company Locations
- Turnover and Wage-Roll
- Number of Staff
- Loss History Relevant to the Cover
Please do not hesitate to contact us should you want to talk about this cover further.
Yours
Alistair
