We have created this Scam Alerts Toolkit for Small Business to help you keep abreast of the increasingly complex scams
If you have provided personal details to someone over the phone and you now believe this to be a scam, contact your bank, building society and credit card company immediately and report it to Action Fraud at www.actionfraud.police.uk or by calling 0300 123 2040.
You can also contact CIFAS to apply for protective registration. This means extra checks will be carried out when a financial service, such as a loan, is applied for using your address and personal details, to verify its you and not a fraudster.
We are all increasingly receiving fake text messages, emails etc. A phishing attempt is where the culprit tries to lure us to a fake website & trick us into entering personal information in order to access our financial accounts
If you aren’t completely confident that an email, text, phone call is where it suggests to be from then please take a moment to verify this & PLEASE DO NOT PROVIDE ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION any genuine contact will understand & allow you to make contact directly with publicly available contact information.
Often they may seem an obvious phishing attempt, however please remember that they won’t be obvious to everyone, some people may fall for an attempt that you disregard without question
It takes only a minute to report any such contacts you receive, those few seconds may stop someone else falling victim to the same person so please consider doing this
https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/report-phishing
Text messages can be reported directly to your phone provider by forwarding to 7726 (87726 for Vodafone). Your provider will send a reply to ask for the name or number that the message was received and once you have provided that you should delete the original message and block the contact number. 7726 spells out SPAM on a mobile phone keypad
Invoice fraud is where a fraudster, posing as your supplier, asks you to change the bank account you make payment to
Always confirm account details directly BEFORE you make payment, using an alternative method of contact to that you have been contacted by
Ensure that you have at least two methods of contacting your supplier to ensure that you are able to independently verify any contact
Ensure that any employees dealing with suppliers are aware of invoice fraud as well as other scams
Stay vigilant about scams, which may mimic government messages as a way of appearing authentic. Search ‘scams’ on GOV.UK for information on how to recognise genuine HMRC contact. Please forward suspicious emails claiming to be from HMRC to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk and texts to 60599 this only takes a moment and will help HMRC to tackle this ever growing issue
Current known scams are published on gov.uk https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/phishing-and-bogus-emails-hm-revenue-and-customs-examples/phishing-emails-and-bogus-contact-hm-revenue-and-customs-examples
You can also check for current genuine contact from HMRC here https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-a-list-of-genuine-hmrc-contacts
Access the National Cyber Security Centre’s new guide on how to stay secure online and protect yourself and your business against cyber crime by visiting ‘CyberAware.gov.uk’.
Please do not click any links in an email or text message as they may contain malicious software or direct you to a spoof website. Do not provide any personal details contact your tax agent or HMRC on their public numbers to verify any contact that you are unsure about
Which has comprehensive advice on how to protect yourself from scams as well as detailing some of the latest scams to watch out for.