To: Campus Unit Finance Leads, University Business Managers, RASG
From: Janet Rupert, Director, Accounts Payable and Vendor Services
While working remotely, the Vendor Coordinator team is noticing an uptick in the number of ACH requests for new and existing vendors. This is good from an efficiency and cost-saving perspective.
As such, we need to reiterate some procedures to ensure we are protecting ourselves against fraud. UNC has recently been a target for phishing/hacking. In this environment, we cannot trust email correspondence that could have been phished or hacked. Therefore, it is critical to validate vendor bank accounts by communicating verbally (in person or by telephone) with a known contact. This must be done by calling the company’s accounting, billing, or accounts receivable department at a phone number from an independent source. This information should not be validated with a phone number provided by an emailed request to update banking information. The emails and supporting documentation offered in correspondence from fraudsters are increasingly sophisticated and can never be trusted.
Please refer to the following requirements:
- Departments are never to receive new or updated ACH information by email.
- Someone from the department should always be independently confirming via a telephone call to a trusted and verified contact when any new information is sent or faxed.
- If a supplier questions why we are calling to verify banking, we clearly state for their protections we are verifying the banking information is accurate.
Here is how to validate banking verbally:
“We received an update request from your company. We are verifying your banking information. Do you bank with (example: ABC) bank? Are the last 4 digits (example: 1234)?”
After confirming the change, include a statement in your supporting documents in Campus Supplier that the banking information has been validated with the vendor and provide that contact name, email address, and phone number.
This memo strengthens requirements as spelled out in 1218.1 Procedure on Determining Vendor Documentation, as well as the memo issued on February 8, 2018.
If you have questions about this memo, contact Janet Rupert at 919-843-5098, or by email at jrupert@email.unc.edu