Introduction to Business Scams:
After targeting innocent and unsuspecting traders, scammers are now behind businesses. Here, with the help of various tricks and fake claims, these scammers convince businesses to invest their money. All these cybercriminals have a similar way of going around a scam apart from the specifications that their companies claim to offer. If the businesses are aware of the common type of scams prevailing in the market and are updated about the red flags of a scam, then there is nothing to worry about. Read on to more about the different types of business scams and the red flags you should look out for.
Red Flags to look out for:
Despite all the scammers having different tricks and ways of scamming businesses, they have several red flags in common. Here are a few of the red flags that you should look out for while searching for a brokerage firm to invest in.
Via Telephone Calls
Telephone calls are one of the easiest methods to coerce businesses and people into depositing money into scams without having any records. These phone calls allow the scammer to maintain their anonymity while luring the potential customer into their trap.
If you are contacted by a seemingly kind person with the claim of being a team member of a certain brokerage firm and if they ask you for crucial personal information, you must never give them any details over the phone. This can lead to them stealing your personal details and selling them to other cybercriminals. If you have to give in your personal details, you must ask for the firm’s terms and conditions and other crucial details before investing and depositing your money.
In some cases, such conversations over phone calls can turn into abusive and may also form a threat to your life. To prevent such scenarios you must avoid attending calls from unknown numbers. Secondly, you must record such calls and take down the information given by the caller. If the caller denies giving their information such as their name, the department they are associated with, their phone number, etc. it is clear sign of a business scam.
Via Emails –
Another type of business scam includes bulk emails. In such situations, the scammer sends emails to businesses. At first sight, these emails may look like harmless messages to verify certain details about the company or anything. However, the problem is visible when you notice closely and read the full document. The harmless-looking emails might be a long-term no withdrawal contract. The flash signs to look for in such conditions are grammatical errors, poor sentence formations, silly spelling mistakes, etc.
Via fake contact details –
Another extremely common red flag is when a scam company forges the contact details and even the name of a regulated company and scam businesses. In such cases, the businesses mistake the scam company to be the reputed company that they are forging and confidently deposit their money only to realize at the end that they have been scammed brutally. These scammers adopt such tricks to lure more people in with the reputation of the regulated brokerage firm. In such cases, you must always run a background check for the firm.
Via payment methods –
Another red flag that the scammers display is their choice of payment methods. A regulated brokerage firm will offer a variety of different payment methods for the ease of the customers. However, a scam brokerage firm will not be up to giving so many options as it can increase their risk of getting caught. The most preferred way of payment by these scam firms is cryptocurrency as it is untraceable.
Via Regular customer pretext –
Such scams are comparatively more common as any business can fall prey to such scenarios. In this, a random person claiming to be from a company will call and convince the receiver that they have done a deal with the business before. They will further place a special discount or request of repeating the order. Mistaking the scam company for one of the companies they have ordered from before, the business will agree to the deal only to get scammed at the end.
Some common business scams
Below are some of the common types of business scams that have been successful in trapping the most number of businesses in their creative traps.
Brand Endorsement through publications
Scam companies will contact businesses with the proposal of advertising the brand in their publication. To attract the business into accepting the offer, these scammers may also add an emotional touch to the whole proposal by claiming that these publications are for charity or any common good use such as adolescent pregnancy, addiction, suicide prevention, mental health, etc. Once the business agrees, the scammers will take a major chunk of money from them for a publication that may never see the light of the day or is delivered to a whole different audience that may not even be relevant.
Sending random goods
Sometimes, the scammers send their goods without notice or without the business ordering the items. Then the scammers wait for an ample amount of time for the business to use it or deal with it. After a specific amount of time, these scammers will send an invoice to the business for the items.
Leasing
In such types of scams, the scammers will approach the businesses with amazing deals on a combined lease of equipment such as computers, printers, photocopy machines, etc., and a room or such. The scammer will lure the businesses into this with the false claim of a great deal at a low price. However, these fraudsters make the businesses sign a long-term deal with no withdrawal option without their knowledge. Such leases can be hard to repay and may cause the business a great loss.
Conclusion –
These were some of the common types of business scams. Scams are everywhere, however, with a little caution and attention to detail, you can easily stay away from such fraudsters. If you have been scammed by such a scammer, file a complaint with us and get the best solutions to recover your money.
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