As you toil to achieve business success based on your goals and objectives, Cybercriminals are doing double duty to breach your site and loot a share of what they haven’t worked for! And while you may say— “my business is small, it just kicked off, there’s not much a cyberthief can get from me”— it’s safer to switch sides and stand on the safer end.
The safer side here means being proactive when it comes to security. Remember, of all the cyberattack threats, nearly two-thirds target small businesses. So, you want to be watchful against any phony requests that may come your way!
Discover the most common ways a fraudster may attempt to target your small business.
Impersonating Your HR Team to request the latest banking information
According to Newsweek.com, the FBI is warning against fraudsters impersonating Human Resource staff and asking for the most recent direct deposit info from the employer. Tricksters redirect staff to sites that look legit asking them to submit confidential company information like login authorizations or account details.
That’s why you need to double-check any requests when you receive an email from HR. Call your staff to confirm the validity of a request before giving out any bank information.
Demanding for a wire transfer to get approved for a loan
Cybercriminals are now pretending to be your trusted financing institutions like banks, moneylenders or any legitimate sources, according to reports from Small businesses. Most times, these criminals ask victims to make a wire transfer deposit to have their loan requests accepted.
Don’t wire money to anyone to get business financing!
Well, I’ve never heard of financial institutions requesting a desperate small business owner to send cash before loan approval. So, if you receive such weird requests then the chances are; you are a click away from getting ripped off!
The best thing to do in this situation is to cut contact and visit the original site to check for similarities and differences!
Contact the official site and inquire whether they require applicants to pay any “loan acceptance fees.” You also want to learn how to tell fake sites from legit ones.
Targeting your staff during the taxpaying period
Cybercriminals are now breaching the servers of tax accountants to steal customer data which they use to file false tax returns using the taxpayers’ bank account, warns the IRS.
Other times, the taxpayer receives calls from “debt collectors” claiming the tax return was wrongly filed before asking for direct payment.
More Ways to Ensure Your Team is Proactive
- Make calls to verify any requests from staff or phony companies
- Never send sensitive company data through email.
- Scrutinize thoroughly the site you’ve been redirected to, double-check the URL to see if the site is secure (look for a “lock” symbol on the browser’s left corner) or compare it with the homepage of the website you trust.
Final words
Criminals are getting cleverer by the day and using methods you never imagined they could employ to attack your businesses. The best you can do is to stay proactive and update your company on any new loophole tricksters discover.