The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has today published guidance aimed at helping businesses avoid becoming victims of online scams.
The OFT Scambusters Team has put together the advice, which gives details of the most common scams, along with information to help prevent businesses falling prey to them.
Some of the unscrupulous practices listed include scammers tricking companies into ordering unnecessary office supplies, paying for adverts in bogus charity publications, and unwittingly signing up for unexpected repeat payments.
The guidance includes a number of specific recommendations, including authorising one or more specific employees to authorise purchases, and ensuring that these employees are fully trained in scam avoidance; researching goods and services fully before purchasing, and investigating alternatives if you have been approached directly by a supplier; and ensuring that you have a verifiable contact telephone number, name and address for any vendors with which you will be doing business.
As previously reported on Simply Business, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has stated that online scams cost small businesses an average of £800 per year. The new guidance will be distributed in tandem by the FSB and Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
