When you hear about PCard fraud, what do you think of?

PCard Misuse?

Most of us immediately think of someone who makes personal purchases with a PCard. There have been recent stories of thefts amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars, accomplished through misuse of a business PCard. Folks have bought luxury items, home décor, airline tickets – the list goes on and on.

The bottom line is that the UWF PCard is to be used for purchases to benefit UWF, and no one else. How can we, together, prevent PCard misuse, especially now when budgets are so very tight?

• Don’t use PCard for anything but authorized UWF purchases.
• If your PCard purchase is eligible for a rebate, or if you return goods for a refund, make sure that the refund/rebate is credited to your PCard or paid directly to UWF.
• Keep detailed documentation of the business purpose of all transactions. Examples: Write a TAR number on your airline or hotel bill, so we can readily determine that your travel was business-related. If your funding allows you to buy food for a student event, keep documentation with your receipt, so we can verify that you didn’t stock the office fridge.
• If you’re a PCard Account Manager, Business Manager or Reconciler, question transactions that don’t make sense or that look improper. If you’re not comfortable questioning your boss’ boss, call Procurement or Internal Auditing to talk it over.
• Procurement and Internal Auditing will continue to monitor PCard activity for suspect vendors, commodity types, and dollar amounts.

 

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But there’s another kind of PCard fraud:

Theft of your account number

Enterprising crooks find ways to obtain credit card information. Don’t help them!

• NEVER give your PCard to anyone else to use.
• When you aren’t using your PCard, keep it in a secure location to which no one else has access.
• Review your monthly statement of activity, and report any unfamiliar charges to your supervisor, Internal Auditing, and Procurement.
• Cardholders, Account Managers, Business Managers and Reconcilers: keep PCard documentation in a secure location to which no one else has access. If documentation displays your PCard number, expiration date and/or security code, redact it (black out the sensitive information) and make absolutely sure the documents are stored securely.
• Reconcilers: shred PCard statements when you’ve finished monthly reconciliations.
• Only order online from reputable vendors. Talk to Procurement if you have questions.
• If your card goes missing or if you think your PCard number has been compromised, immediately notify the issuing bank, Internal Auditing, UWF Police, and Procurement.