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Fighting Fraud With a Fraud Awareness Training Program

Posted On: 03/19/2024 / Payroll Services
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Fraud Awareness Training Is An Amazing Way To Fight Fraud

Every business will eventually deal with payroll fraud. The real test isn’t whether or not you’ll be targeted, but rather how ready you’ll be when it happens. One of the best choices you can make in order to prepare is to have your employees on your side. Doing so is as easy as implementing a fraud awareness training program.

Fighting fraud with fraud awareness training

Knowing what to look for is always the first step in fighting fraud. That’s why a good fraud awareness training program is such a necessity for businesses of all sizes. It’s not just a matter of setting up a program, though, that makes awareness training work – it’s knowing the precise elements that are necessary to make the lessons of the training stick. Below are a few of the things you’ll need to know in order to make sure that your awareness training has the impact that you desire.

What is fraud awareness training?

A solid fraud awareness training program requires touching on four major factors. First and foremost, every one of these sessions should begin with the simple definition of fraud – you’d be amazed by the number of very educated people in your employ who might not know what fraud means in business terms. From there, you’ll have a frank discussion on how fraud negatively impacts businesses in general, and how fraud has impacted your business in particular. This is a good time to help your employees understand how fraud can and has impacted their own careers.

Once you’ve discussed the concept in the abstract, it will be time to get a bit more concrete. You should make sure to discuss the types of fraud schemes that are most prevalent in your field, with concrete examples of how they work and the harm that these schemes can create. Your employees should walk away from the training with the tools they need to help combat fraud.

Who should attend?

Who should attend your fraud awareness training program? Ideally, everyone should attend the training. Depending on the size of your business and the scope of the problems that you have encountered, though, it may not be reasonable for everyone to do so. If you can’t bring everyone onboard, you’ll want to identify a few key groups of people.

Start by talking to your managers and supervisors. If they’re already trained, have them help you assemble the list of the individuals who haven’t been through similar types of training or who might know less about fraud in general. Helping to shore up the weakest links will make it easier for your company to stand strong against fraud of all sorts.

You’ll also want to make sure that the individuals who are most likely to encounter relevant types of fraud are able to get training. This might include workers in payroll, front-line customer service, or even in IT. The more likely it is that one of these individuals will be able to identify and stop fraud when encountered, the more important it is that they are trained.

What topics should be covered?

It’s always important to make sure that your fraud awareness training program covers the right topics. While the conversations that you have may be wide-ranging, you’ll want to make sure that you cover a few key topics. These include, but are not limited to:

  • Understanding what fraud is, including the definitions that are most important to your industry. Make sure your employees understand that every type of fraud is equally as damaging to your business.
  • How fraud impacts your organization, including real examples of the losses that you have taken. Also include relevant stories about how fraud has impacted other businesses.
  • How fraud impacts individual employees. Make sure your employees understand that fraud impacts their bottom lines as well. Let them know that you could do more for your employees if you didn’t have to worry so much about fraudulent activities.
  • Discussion who perpetrates fraud. It’s important for employees to understand that fraud isn’t always committed by outsiders. Discuss how internal fraud is a problem, and how they need to be part of the solution.
  • How they can identify fraud in all of its forms, including those that they might not immediately understand as the fraud. Being able to identify common payroll issues and scams can be incredibly valuable for employees who care about their company.

How often should training occur?

Training is always the most useful when it is fresh. As such, it’s a good idea to hold training, or at least refreshers, as often as is reasonable. You’ll want to make sure that you hold trainings often enough that new employees will always be able to be trained and refreshers at least once a year so that long-term workers will be able to catch up. It’s also a good idea to send out documentation on a regular basis so that you can keep fraud prevention on the mind of your employees. The more often you remind people of their duty, the less of a chance that they’ll forget what they need to do.

How does it help fraud prevention?

Fraud prevention is helpful for several reasons. Perhaps most importantly, it allows you to feel secure in knowing that your employees understand that certain aspects are fraudulent even when they seem innocent. Trainings also allow your employees to play more of an active role in identifying and preventing fraud. Even those employees who don’t take the training seriously will receive the very valuable message that your business takes fraud seriously and that you’re taking steps to make sure it’s not an attractive option.


Are you ready to fight fraud?

Fraud awareness can help your employees to become a valuable part of your fight against fraud. When you’re ready to start taking fraud seriously, make sure to work with professionals like PayTech to determine whether or not your security is up to the task – and make sure to take our Security Quiz to see where you stand.