As a growing business, focused on growth and sales, it’s only natural that some elements of your enterprise are more neglected than others. And it’s because of this approach, that fraudsters and scammers are determined to infiltrate your business and gain access to your financial and business data. They can see where your business security is lacking and have already pinpointed the weakest areas of your enterprise and will try to find a way in, through any means necessary.
Changing the way you run your business and maintaining a close eye on the fraud-prevention policies you have in place, will help to keep these issues at bay. Additionally, making yourself familiar with the ways fraudsters might try to infiltrate your business, can also help you stay one step ahead.
Read on to find out more.
Telephone Scams
There’s nothing more frustrating than repetitive calls from an unknown number. But when you’re a growing business, every call could be an important one and when scammers are phishing for your data, they’ll stop at nothing to encourage you to hand it over willingly. Spam calls from this number, for example, are listed as belonging to Virgin Media, however as the number has been reported multiple times for being a scam, the number may have been cloned by criminals. Businesses like yours should always be wary of suspicious telephone calls, and should never hand over personal or business-related information.
- Make sure you know who your providers are
- Don’t hand over any account or financial details
- Hang up and call back your provider on the number given to you when you signed up. They’ll soon tell you if the call was real
Pretending To Be Someone Of Authority
Again, this could be via telephone calls, emails or even someone visiting your business premises in person! Scammers can easily make themselves highly believable, whether they’re pretending to be someone from a utility company, a government official, or a member of an organization that you’re familiar with. We don’t like to think badly of people, which is something that fraudsters play on. You can avoid this by:
- Asking every visitor for at least 2 forms of ID
- Calling the office/business they’re from and enquiring about their visit
- Asking them to make a formal appointment and come back. Whilst you check with the company
- Ensure all employees are trained to spot the signs of fraudulent behaviors
Fraudulent Emails and Text Messages
Scammers are incredibly well practiced in sending near-perfect imitations of formal looking emails and text messages. Usually asking for money, such as late payments or using intimidation and fear to scare you into making a payment. You can avoid this impacting your business by:
- Getting in touch with the business the message/email is from
- Understanding your financial situation
- Training staff not to open or engage with suspicious-looking emails or messages and asking for assistance if they’re unsure.
Final Thoughts …
The idea of your business falling foul to a scammer or fraudster can seem unlikely, however, it’s important to be one step ahead of these criminals and have fraud-prevention policies in place to protect you and your business.
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