THERE HAS BEEN an upsurge in the number of attempts to scam Irish businesses.
ISME, the small and medium enterprise body, has warned that there are a number of convincing scams operating within Ireland.
They say the scams cost businesses millions every year.
They say they have received an increased number of calls in the last two months from companies who are being inundated with pseudo-requests, spurious invoices and sham deliveries, in the mail or over the internet, which are the actions of fraudsters.
Chief executive of ISME Mark Fielding says that scams happen more often when management are away.
These scams are particularly prevalent during the holiday periods as fraudsters are aware that, in many cases, senior management may be out of the office, leaving more junior staff to take decisions. This can result in a staff member signing for something that they should not be signing, resulting in the company being tied to a contract.
“Most of these scams concern invoices for subscriptions for online business directories”.
One prevalent fraud attempt operating sees criminals send fraudulent letters, purportedly from the Revenue Commissioners, asking for details to start a tax rebate.
ISME says that businesses should check invoices carefully, check letters and invoices with those who sent them, have two senior staff who must sign off on all documents like contract and never respond to email actions from banks.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say