When considering the threats and risks that may befall an organisation, including commercial crime in that assessment is essential. Employers may overlook the threat of criminal activity and believe they are not vulnerable, but criminals should be considered high risk for an organisation.
Organisations of all sizes and across industries should consider commercial crime insurance to protect them from financial losses due to a crime. This type of cover may come in handy for many situations, such as:
- Physical theft—While criminals may have developed many sophisticated methods of stealing in recent years, physical theft of money or property from an organisation’s premises by an outsider is still a serious threat.
- Forgery—In the event of a cheque or promissory note being forged or otherwise fraudulently altered by an outsider, a commercial crime policy will help recoup the losses and assist with expenses if an organisation faces a legal claim for refusing to pay funds related to the forged document.
- Employee crime—This type of cover protects organisations from losses related to employee theft or forgery. Organisations should be aware that if they know an employee has stolen from the organisation in the past, future theft committed by that employee may not be covered.
- Fraudulent transfer—A commercial crime insurance policy may cover situations when an outside perpetrator uses a computer to fraudulently transfer goods or funds outside of an organisation’s premises or bank. It may also cover incidents when perpetrators may not necessarily use a computer but use any method to intentionally provide improper instructions to a financial institution to transfer funds from the organisation fraudulently.
- Social engineering—An emerging method of stealing that organisations should be aware of is social engineering. It refers to a type of theft in which the perpetrator attempts to impersonate a person of stature and authority—such as a senior leader—to gain access to financial information, money, or property. These crimes can result in significant losses, but commercial crime insurance may alleviate the damage.
For more information on commercial crime insurance, contact us today.