Business owners have become the main target of many scammers, mostly due to their lower technical literacy and busy lifestyles. Smaller companies are much more susceptible to all types of scams since they're still in the process of growth, likely don't have a lot of employees, and lack the internal controls of large enterprises. The following four secrets will reveal some of the most effective methods with which you can avoid falling victim to business frauds.
Four Ways To Prevent Scams,
1. Stay Away From Strange Emails
According to the FBI, in the last three years, email scams have caused $5.3 billion dollars worth of damage to over 20,000 enterprises around the world. While it goes without saying that you should avoid even clicking on an email from an unknown address (especially through your business account), sometimes they can be disguised very well. Even though this isn't a common case, sometimes business executives get their email accounts hacked, which are then used to scam out business owners who don't know any better. They're harder to differentiate from the legit ones, especially when well-formed.
To avoid this damaging fraud, always double-check the address from which you received an email letter by letter. If you do decide to open it, avoid clicking on any links inside of it no matter which website they claim to be leading to. Don't give out any delicate information such as credit card and social security numbers. If the subject is of a serious matter, contact the other party in person or via a phone call.
2. Do Not Speak About Compromising Subjects
Credits, debt, and any other aspects involving money fall into extremely sensitive matters that you shouldn't discuss with anybody unless you have a lawyer with you. One thoughtless thing that you said can be used against you in the long run, especially if there's a physical recording of it.
A lot of experienced law professors say that you should never disclose any personal information about you, no matter how trivial it may seem at the time. It's your right not to talk to anybody unless you want to, whether it's a regular person or a police officer. The statement "I want a lawyer" should be more than enough for anybody wanting to initiate a conversation about a compromising subject.
Also, it's possible that these types of questions will come from the owners of competitor companies. They might even sugar coat it so that it seems like a friendly conversation. Whatever the case may be, always be careful with your words.
3. Take Care of Unknown Callers
Similarly to the first entry, phone call scams have made a return as one of the more popular methods of fraud. A call from an unknown number can be tempting to answer, but also quite dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. If you find yourself in this situation, there is one extremely important precaution that you should take before answering - and that's to check who the number belongs to.
Spokeo is an online app developed just for this purpose. It runs an identity search on the owner through the process known as reverse phone lookup. Spokeo is connected to a lot of different databases that contain records on over 6 billion consumers, 90 million businesses, as well as social media profiles from over 120 networks. The app forms a report based on these registers that includes the person's full name, location history, criminal records, social media accounts, family, etc. Although Spokeo also has an email search functionality, it provides the best results when run on a phone number.
4. Protect Your Website With Cybersecurity Apps
Most of the major websites today require secure SSL connections that prevent information from being stolen while it's being transferred. Let's Encrypt is an app that offers free SSL certificates for any website, and it only has to be installed/executed once. The future updates are automatically applied as they come out, so you won't have to do any maintenance. Also if you want to increase website traffic and rating then take a look at creating dofollow backlinks
Besides that, another vulnerable element to consider is the login functionality. Fortunately, you don't have to manually ensure that it's as secure as possible. Auth0 does this for you - it comes with a lot of security layers that will ensure that both you and your visitors are as protected as possible.
By using these four tips on a daily basis, you can reduce your chances of becoming scammed to a minimum.
About Author
Maguire Haigh is a marketing manager for Spokeo. He is interested in the latest technology trends, marketing strategies and business development. He also prefers travelling, exploring the world and meeting new people. Maguire has great experience in creating and editing articles on different topics.
