There are many different ways a business can be subject to fraud, and with so many scams now flying around, trying to navigate the world of business can be a nightmare for a small business owner who is trying to juggle many job roles within their company.
In this article, we are going to investigate simple ways you can keep your business safe from fraudulent activity.
Hire A Great Team!
Your business may not be at the stage where you are ready to hire staff yet, but if you are, then you want the best people around you to help you keep your business protected.
Firstly, it will take some of the pressure off you, meaning you are less likely to miss something that could potentially be fraud.
Secondly, ensuring your staff are trustworthy is a huge part of protecting your business, the last thing you need is team members who would share data or worse, steal from you.
With this in mind, police checks can be obtained, if necessary, but at the very least, ensure you have references from every new potential employee to gain valuable insight from their previous employees.
If someone has lied on their CV, then they are potentially not the best person to be trusted with your business.
Research!
Researching in advance is extremely important to avoid scams and fraud in your business.
If you are dealing with a new supplier, ensure you do your due diligence wherever possible. Speak to their other clients, read reviews online, and check out their social media pages to see how often they interact and what the engagement is like from their customer base.
This will give you a good insight into whether the company is genuine.
From there, consider using an account verification company before you make any kind of bank transfer to them. Envestnet | Yodlee is a great account verification option for this, they will verify the banking information you have been provided with instantly, which will give you peace of mind to know the business you are dealing with are who they say they are.
Payment Methods
Other options will help you make your payments more secure. Sending a transfer via an automated clearing house (ACH) payment rather than a traditional bank transfer will allow you to reverse the payment if you do discover fraud, adding an extra layer of security.
These payments are also much cheaper than a wire transfer, although they do take a couple of extra days to process.
Security
The last suggestion we have is to ensure that all of your security is up to scratch. Make sure you have sufficient cameras, etc. at physical premises, and for online data, ensure you have good security systems in place to protect it from hackers and malware.
We hope that this article has been useful for you and given you some insight into the easiest ways to protect your business from potential fraud and scams.
Also Read: 5 Reasons Professional Services Can Help Generate Your Business Brand Name
