Caption: Before reacting to claims about your website, take time to evaluate the source and decide whether a review is actually needed.
Most of us pursue business, or work, or simply life, because we believe we have something to offer — to a customer, a client, an employer, or the people around us. Most people aren’t setting out to scam anyone or take advantage of others. We all hope things go well for us in return.
Because that’s how most of us approach life, we tend to believe other people are basically honest. For the most part, they are. But there are people who aren’t, and unfortunately, it only takes one to cause considerable damage.
You don’t have to own a business to be scammed. It can happen through a phone call, email, text message, social media, purchase, investment, contractor, relationship, or someone pretending to represent an organization you trust.
If you’re an entrepreneur, there are simply more ways for unfamiliar people to enter the picture. You may have customers, vendors, marketers, consultants, potential partners, invoices, payments, contracts, and people requesting access to business information or systems. If you have employees, they can be approached as well.
Whether it happens in your personal life or through a business, a scam can have consequences beyond losing money. It could involve your credit, personal or business information, accounts, reputation, relationships, or even possible identity theft.
The point isn’t to focus on everything that could happen or suggest that everyone needs to follow a particular set of procedures. It is simply to be aware that scams exist and consider reasonable precautions that may help reduce your risk.
There are no guarantees. A precaution doesn’t mean you cannot be scammed, and nothing in this post is something you have to do. These are suggestions for you to consider and decide whether they make sense for you, your personal life, or your business.
How Easy Is It?
Sometimes, surprisingly easy.
Think about how accessible most of us are today. We have email addresses and telephone numbers. We use social media. We shop online. We answer messages from people we don’t know. We hire people and do business with people we may have never met before.
An entrepreneur adds another layer. You advertise because you want people to find you. Prospective customers schedule appointments. Vendors contact you. You send and receive invoices. You accept payments. If you have employees, they may be doing some of these things for you.
None of that is unusual. It is part of living and doing business today. But every legitimate way someone can reach us can potentially be used by someone whose intentions aren’t legitimate.
The answer obviously isn’t to turn off the telephone, stop using email, remove yourself from the internet, stop advertising, refuse to meet new people, and never do business with anyone you don’t already know.
Most likely we can’t prevent every scam attempt from reaching us, but we can consider precautions that may make those attempts less likely to succeed.
Why Would Someone Scam Another Person?
There isn’t necessarily one reason.
For some, the motivation may simply be financial gain. They see an opportunity to obtain money, goods, or something else of value from another person.
For others, financial pressure or economic desperation may play a role. That doesn’t excuse the behavior, but it may be part of what motivates someone to participate in fraud.
For some, it may simply seem worth the risk. If they believe there is little chance of getting caught and something to gain if they succeed, they may be willing to try.
Then there is rationalization. People can find ways to justify behavior they know is wrong. Someone may convince themselves that the person can afford the loss, that a bank will reimburse the money, or that what they’re doing isn’t really hurting anyone.
For some, there may even be the thrill of getting away with it. The challenge itself can become part of the motivation: Can I fool this person? Can I pull this off? Can I get away with it without being caught?
Whatever the reason, we cannot assume that another person approaches a situation with the same intentions we do.
Scammers Don’t Necessarily Look Like Scammers
If every scam were obvious, there probably wouldn’t be very many successful scams.
Someone can have a professional-looking website, LinkedIn profile, business cards, testimonials, contracts, impressive numbers, or a convincing story. An email can appear to come from a company you recognize. A telephone caller can claim to represent an organization you trust. Someone may even appear to know information about you or your business.
Scammers can also use methods designed to get us to respond. They may appeal to something we want or something we fear. There may be a promise of money, a great opportunity, or something else we would like to have. Or there may be a warning that we are about to lose money, an account will be closed, a bill is overdue, or something bad will happen if we don’t act.
They may use impersonation, pretending to represent a bank, business, government agency, technology company, employer, or even someone we know. The familiarity can make the request appear more trustworthy.
For an entrepreneur, the scammer may simply look like a potential customer. Someone may request an appointment or consultation but then want to control how the meeting takes place. They may insist on using Google Meet or another online meeting service and send you a link they want you to click rather than using your normal meeting process.
Payment can create another opportunity. Someone may purchase a product or service and then claim to have accidentally paid too much and ask you to refund the difference. Or the payment may appear legitimate but was actually made using someone else’s stolen credit card. By the time the actual cardholder says they didn’t authorize the transaction and disputes the charge, you may have already emailed the product, shipped the merchandise, or provided the service.
Then there may be urgency. You need to decide today. The invoice is overdue. The opportunity will disappear. Your account has a problem. The payment needs to be made immediately.
Of course, legitimate customers can request online meetings. People can make payment mistakes. Payments can be disputed for legitimate reasons. Real situations can require immediate attention. None of these things by themselves means someone is attempting to scam you.
The point is to be aware when fear, excitement, familiarity, an unusual request, urgency, or pressure causes us to act differently than we normally would.
Experience Doesn’t Make Us Immune
It is easy to think, I would know better.
Maybe. But experience doesn’t remove human behavior.
We get busy. We become distracted. We recognize a company name and lower our guard. An opportunity sounds particularly attractive. Someone tells us what we want to hear. Or we simply trust the person we’re dealing with.
For an entrepreneur, the same thing can happen to an employee. A message that appears to come from the owner asking for an immediate payment may seem perfectly legitimate to the person receiving it.
The issue isn’t whether we should trust people.
The issue is whether trust should be our only safeguard.
Put Some Reasonable Roadblocks in the Way
What makes sense for someone protecting their personal accounts may be different from what a solo entrepreneur needs. A company with employees may need additional safeguards because several people can receive requests, approve purchases, access systems, or handle money.
The objective is not to create a mountain of procedures. It is to consider where you may be vulnerable and decide what reasonable safeguards make sense for you.
That could mean verifying something before sending money, checking who you’re dealing with before entering a business relationship, using secure payment systems, protecting important accounts, or giving employees a way to stop and question something that doesn’t look right.
Sometimes the most useful roadblock may simply be:
“I need to verify this before I move forward.”
For Individuals and Business Owners: A Guide You Can Use
For individuals, solo entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs with employees, I have put together a Business Scam Prevention Best Practices Guide.
Rather than sending you from one organization to another to research individual recommendations, the guide brings suggested business safeguards together in one place. You can review them and decide which ones make sense for your business and how far you want to take them.
At the end of the day, there are absolutely no guarantees. Even with the best precautions, a clever scammer can still find a way through. The ultimate goal isn’t to build an impenetrable fortress—it is simply to be more mindful of what we do in the moments that matter.
That is why the Business Scam Prevention Best Practices Guide is exactly what the name says: just a guide. It isn’t the end-all-be-all solution, and it won’t fix everything.
It is exactly what the name suggests: a guide.
It is simply a collection of tools for you to look over, consider, and use to build your own awareness. Take what helps, ignore what doesn’t, and remember that your own daily mindfulness is your best defense.
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