Top 5 Email Business Scams To Avoid

Top 5 Email Business Scams To Avoid : When it comes to working in any sort of business, be it large or small, you’re probably going to be flooded with emails from your clients and customers. It is pretty standard to get an email from someone you don’t know. But sometimes, what they can start asking you for in your email can sound a little sketchy.

If you haven’t already sent these sort of emails to your spam box, here is some advice on how to avoid some of the biggest business email scams in the world. Hopefully, you haven’t already fallen prey to them!

Survey Scam

Now, when it comes to taking surveys, not all of them seem suspicious. You may have gone on a random adult website and saw a funny survey that asked if you could rate some escorts. No big deal. However, when it comes to certain business surveys that come into your email, you may need to be a little bit more cautious.

Okay, so the normal email survey scam might look innocent enough, as it could be about a business issue you’re involved with, and so it may ask for your feedback. However, unless you’ve specifically signed up to this mailing list, you may be in for a nasty surprise.

Once you have clicked on the link to the survey, you will be taken to a malicious website where spyware or malware can be installed on your computer. That means that cybercriminals can watch everything that you do on your computer. You may find that your business funds are suddenly depleted. Why is that? Because they’ve watched you take out money from your account and know your passwords. This can ruin your life, especially if there is nothing that your band can do about this.
Online Banking Scam

So, let’s say that you’re an SEO company and you’ve started trading links for profit. That means you’re going to be using a PayPal or an online banking scheme. Suddenly, in your emails, you may see that you’ve received a message from your PayPal or bank that says “act now or your account will be deactivated” or “Security break on your account.” Since you start to panic about your account, you open the email and log into your account.

The problem is that you’re not using your bank account or PayPal account. The website is completely fake and looks almost identical to its original. That means you’ve just given your bank details to a complete stranger who can change your information and clean out your money.

Best way to check that you are receiving legitimate emails is to check the email itself. Every bank account you have will send you evidence that they are real. Some will use the last digitals of your card to prove it. You may also want to check to see if the email address looks suspicious, whether the email has your card details listed or if the email has a “threat” noted in it. No legitimate firm would write that. You may also want to hover your mouse over the link. If it links to a strange URL, it’s a scam.
Mystery Shopper Scam

When it comes to your business, if you are selling quite a few different products, you may occasionally find that your store or website is visited by a mystery shopper. You can even authorise companies to send a secret shopper to your business to give you a review. That all sounds great, except for when it gets to the mystery shopper’s scam email.

Now, when you get a mystery shopper email, you may see a tag line that promises you a lot of money and that you can work from home. You can earn between £200-£300 a day just by shopping online. Well, that sounds great…Except that you have to pay up front to become one of the shoppers and receiving a “training package” that will never arrive. Worse still, some companies may even send out fraudulent checks that bounce after you have sent them money to cover study materials. Avoid these scams at all costs!
Collaboration Scams

As you are a big business with an online presence, occasionally competitive brands may ask to collaborate with you on projects or perhaps join forces to create an even better product. Well, occasionally you may get emails that come from interested business partners. You leave enough of your contact information on your website, so you may suddenly hear from a “financial representative” of an overseas company that wants to collaborate with you.

However, to do this then they will need you to make a transaction, as they will not be able to invest since they can’t use UK sterling. They may then ask for your details so that they can have they can send the money to your account. But when you do, voila, the scammers have your bank details. You may then find that your bank account suddenly becomes emptied and you may even experience identity theft.
Invoice Scam

It’s important to keep an eye on the things you order for your office and your business. One of the simplest scams that you can encounter is that you suddenly receive an invoice from a random source for a product you ordered. If you assume that you did buy it then you will be sending money for no apparent reason. This scam tends to be a bit of a hit and miss, but you would be surprised how many people just pay the invoice without actually thinking about it. Some scammers don’t even ask for big amounts. Just small amounts that you probably won’t even think about. So, keep alert and avoid these as their rates may grow before you even know it.

Keep aware and avoid being scammed

When it comes to keeping your businesses’ finances, it’s important to keep your eyes alert for any scam emails that might come in. You don’t want to become one of the victims of a scam and lose all of your money. Instead, make sure to bin any odd emails that come through. If they bug you repeatedly then don’t be afraid the block them. That’s the best way of dealing with scammers and spammers.