Businesses are one of the biggest and most favorite targets for hackers and scammers. They know that businesses handle a lot of money and information. Losing money to a scammer is one thing and it’s still possible to recover from a moderate cash loss, but when information is involved, things become more serious. Your brand could be damaged as a result, sometimes irreparably, so this is not something you can take lightly. Let’s take a look at some of the most common scams targeting businesses.
Phishing Scams
Phishing scams target employees most of the time and involve social engineering tactics. Someone will usually send an email to someone posing as a higher-up within the organization or posing as some sort of authority. The message will even have the person’s email as the sender in some cases.
They will often ask the receiver to perform a specific action like giving away information from a customer or banking information. Or they may ask the person to click on a link or visit a website.
While these attacks can have disastrous consequences, they can be easily thwarted if you take the right steps. First, have a strict verification protocol for any message asking for sensitive information. This can be done by asking employees to speak directly with the person who supposedly sent the message either face to face, via telephone, or video call.
You should also think about hiring soVision IT Support and IT managed services. Services like these will make sure that your firewalls and antivirus software are updated. They will also put additional barriers in place to make sure that anyone who has their hands on sensitive credentials won’t get access to your systems.
Insurance Scams
Insurance scams are one of the most frustrating types of scams small businesses have to deal with. Someone will claim that they were injured by one of your employees, for instance, or that they slipped and fell around your premises.
Some people might think that these are anecdotal, but they happen more often than you can think and can cause a lot of stress. Some people will even follow your company cars hoping that they will get in a collision with them so they can collect insurance money.
The only way to protect yourself from these kinds of scams is to have strong insurance coverage. You also need to ramp up surveillance on your vehicles and your premises.
Office Supply Fraud
Office supply fraud is another thing you have to watch out for. Some people will act like they are a regular supplier, for sentence, and try to pressure you into “re-ordering” a previous order. If you’re duped into accepting, they may send an expensive order of product at your door and force you to pay. The best way to counter this is to implement clear purchase protocols that require signatures.
If you’re running a small or medium business, make sure that you stay on the lookout for these common fraud tactics. This will save you a lot of money and headaches and allow you to set up safer systems and processes.
