Somerset Regional Council transition to EFT payments and engagement of Eftsure
Somerset Regional Council is transitioning from cheque payments to EFT with full implementation and EFT payments due to commence by mid-2024.
Somerset Regional Council is mindful of the prevalence of cybercrime and is working to reduce fraud risk and to safeguard its strong financial control processes.
Part of this risk mitigation process includes the engagement of fraud protection company Eftsure Pty Ltd to provide payment verification services prior to payments being made.
The purpose of the verification procedure is to minimise the risk of errors of fraud in paying suppliers.
Throughout October and November 2023, Eftsure will be emailing Somerset Regional Council suppliers and requesting supplier payment details be provided by a secure portal. Once this information has been received by Eftsure, a representative from Eftsure will contact the supplier by telephone to verify these details.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Eftsure?
Eftsure is a cloud-based software solution that protects outgoing EFT payments from fraud and error. The decentralised verification program provides continuous control monitoring to protect the organisation’s digital payments.
Eftsure is a tool aimed to prevent payment fraud, onboard new vendors and manage the accuracy of existing banking and compliance data.
How does Eftsure work?
Eftsure’s multi-factor verification and crossmatching platform aggregates banking data from nearly two million Australian organisations, representing around 80% of actively trading Australian businesses.
For organisations not already on the database, Eftsure will undertake an independent verification on Council’s behalf.
This will enable the verification of banking details in real-time before Council processes an EFT payment to its suppliers.
This helps mitigate the risk of human error and prevents cyber fraud such as social engineering, phishing and fake invoicing.
Why are you using Eftsure?
Eftsure helps Australian businesses to safeguard payments from fraud and human error by matching ABN and business names with a bank account and BSB numbers.
The most prevalent issue around payment fraud is that payments may be redirected by simply changing BSB and account numbers on invoices. Most banks do not namecheck account holders.
Why am I being asked to provide my banking details?
As Somerset Regional Council is currently making payments by cheque, it does not have supplier banking details.
A number of local government authorities and businesses throughout Australia already making EFT payments have engaged Eftsure to verify the existing bank details they have on file. Verification is important as banks do not match BSBs and Account Numbers Names when making payments.
Cybercriminals often intercept emails between suppliers and their customers and change the bank details on legitimate invoices. Hackers or malicious insiders may also change the bank details of customers on file and route payments intended for you to themselves.
Eftsure software will validate all supplier bank account details and ensure payments they have on file for you are correct. This one-off verification ensures that payments made to your organisation reach your bank account.
Why did I receive an email from Eftsure?
Somerset Regional Council has authorised Eftsure to conduct supplier detail collation and verification on their behalf. This is a procedural request and is not related to a specific invoice or payment. Should you wish to further validate the legitimacy of this request, please contact Council’s accounts department directly.
Why can’t I simply tell you my bank details on the phone or email them to you?
Our verification requirement is to have these details collated and checked by an independent third party. However, if you are uncomfortable entering them into the portal, please email the details to support@eftsure.com.au
