Are you aware of the various scams currently being used to steal valuable information from your business?
We’re sharing some of the top business scams to look out for and tips to handle these situations.
Fake Invoices and Payment Requests
Companies are often targeted by invoicing or payment request scams. By the time you catch on, the scammer already has your money and is no longer reachable. Like the PayPal example we’ve encountered, fake invoices are often for services that can catch people if they use multiple vendors for security, office supplies, and more.
Tip: Create a list or spreadsheet of all outside organizations your company makes payments to.
Website Domain Scams
Be cautious of deceiving letters or emails your business may receive regarding renewing your domain. If you were to pay the requested fee, you might be transferring your domain to the scammer and lose ownership.
Tip: Know when your domain expires and carefully read over the letters you receive regarding your website.
Service Offerings Scams
Some scammers represent themselves as legitimate companies offering business services. You could place an order, believing you’re getting a great deal on a product or service, only to find out that the person you paid has no intention of delivering. These scams have become especially common in the wake of COVID-19. More employees are now working from home and may be looking for better internet service or office supplies they can order for themselves. In some instances the business is legitimate, but are way overpricing their services. An experience we’ve had was a company offering SEO services to create five keywords for $400!
Tip: If you’re contacted by a company, do background research first before you commit to anything. You can check their social media and website to ensure they are who they say they are and check the contact information is the same. If the company seems to be overpricing you, you can reference a similar company’s prices or check with colleagues in the particular field.
Fake Check or Overpayment Scams
Check and payment tampering fraud schemes were four times more common in small businesses than in large organizations in 2020. They take the form of someone – be it a customer or someone posing as another business – paying you more than you’re owed via check, then asking you to pay back the difference. If this occurs and the payer requests a refund through a prepaid credit card, gift card, or wire transfer, be very suspicious. Scammers like to be paid using these methods because they’re more difficult for the authorities to track.
Tip: Holding refunds for check payments for several weeks could help you avoid this situation. Under no circumstances should you refund a customer using an untraceable channel.
Email Phishing Scams
In 2020, there were 241,342 complaints of phishing scams, amounting to more than $54 million in losses. Spam email remains a plague, and email phishing scams have been a menace for decades. If you get an offer on a business deal that sounds too good to be true, or receive an unexpected password reset request for one of your company’s accounts, you may be dealing with a scammer. If you do get a message that appears to be from a legitimate company, it’s still a good idea to do your research on them. According to the FTC, scammers are more than capable of making a fake website or email that looks like the real thing.
Social Media Scams
Scammers across social media platforms have become increasingly common. Scammers can pretend to be someone you trust or a business looking to work with you. Many business hackers use social media to steal personal data or gain control of your social platform to attack your customers and colleagues damaging your reputation. Hackers can also use Facebook or Twitter to access your cell phone since most users access it on their mobile devices. In September 2021, companies dealt with an average of 61 social media-related phishing attacks a month.
Tip: Before connecting with an unknown company or individual through social media, look through their profile for any unusual activity or search the company’s name online with the term “scam.” Also, keep your account secure by updating privacy settings and using different passwords for different accounts or a two-factor authentication.
Source: Business.com and CoreTech
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