Swindles every business owner needs to guard against

Being in business is hard work. It takes a lot to turn a profit. The last thing you need is to see months of work wiped out when a scammer cons you or a member of your staff steals from you. Increasingly, scammers are targeting businesses. It is something owners need to be aware of and guard against.

Phone call bank scams

Scammers know that if they can gain access to business account details that they can take thousands before anyone even notices. It is all too easy for someone to fall foul of something like the Carphone Warehouse scam and inadvertently give out the information scammers need to do exactly that. It is vital that nobody in the company gives out bank details over the phone. Scammers are getting cleverer by the day. They no longer ask for all of the details they need in one phone call. Many of them play the long game, gleaning the information they need over the course of several calls. Making it even more unlikely that the person at the other end will realise what is happening.

Other forms of bank scam

As business owners get wise to phone fraud, scammers are diversifying and perpetrating other types of swindles. You can find out about them here.

Invoice fraud

Invoice swindles have always been popular with scammers. It only takes a few minutes to create an invoice and send it to a firm for payment. If you do not have robust accountancy processes in place, especially at busy times, you can easily end up paying it. By the time that you realise that you have paid a fake invoice, it will be too late.

Employee scams

Unfortunately, it is common for employees to defraud their employers. For example, even if you do have robust invoice clearance processes in place you can still fall foul of invoice fraud. The person who decides which invoices are paid and which are not could easily pass/pay fake invoices and take a cut. This article will help you to spot the red flags and stop all sorts of employee scams from ruining your bottom line.

Vanity frauds

Most business owners are very brand conscious. They know that winning an award or being featured in a prestigious industry magazine or website brings benefits to them and their businesses. So, when someone calls them and says that they have been nominated their natural tendency is to welcome the opportunity. The swindle happens when they are asked to cover certain expenses. For example, the printing or writing costs or to pay to be entered into the pool for the award. Usually, that adds up to hundreds, which is wasted money when the award is not given, or the feature article is never published.

The above are just a few examples. Scammers are constantly coming up with new ways to con entrepreneurs out of their money. So, business owners need to be vigilant and take steps not to become a victim of the latest scams.