Avoid Business Scams With These Essential Tips

Cybersecurity can affect any of us anytime; whether we're a company or an individual, you should be vigilant at all times about staying safe online and keeping your personal information private.

The impact for those who fall victim to cybercrime can be devastating; it can clear a person's savings or completely ruin a business, so it's something we must all take seriously.

No doubt, it's essential that none of us ever fall into the trap of thinking it will never happen to me, it can and it might, but to help you avoid them as well as possible, let's look at four secrets on how to avoid business scams.

1. Email scams

Not answering suspicious emails might seem obvious, yet an alarming number of people each year fall victim to business scams by replying to unknown or strange emails.

If you have a bad feeling about the email, the sender isn't someone you know, or the wording of the contents is strange, then ignore it. Or better yet put in in your spam folder so your account can help filter any similar emails in future.

If you receive a strange email from someone you do know, it's a good idea to phone them and double-check they were the sender. It might be that their account has been hacked and you are being targeted.

It's better to be safe than sorry with these situations, so you might feel silly phoning your friend to confirm they have emailed you but think of the nightmare that could ensure if it is not them, it only takes one bad email to cause you a huge problem.

2. Money-related conversations

If someone approaches you online or in-person wanting to talk about your finance, such as your debits, credits, budgets, loans, and so forth, ensure you have a lawyer present if you do intend on speaking to them.

If you have no intention of entertaining the conversation, then you can ignore them, but if for whatever reason you do think it's in your best interest to discuss these things with them, call your lawyer.

3. Phone call scams

Often it's easy to get dropped into a phone call, especially if we've been caught off guard or are distracted at the time, and before you know it, you're having a conversation where you're giving out information to someone who you don't even know.

Therefore, if an unknown number calls you, it's best not to answer it, investigate for yourself who it was - then call them back if you need to. The quickest way to do this is with Spokeo; this is a reverse phone lookup tool that could tell you the identity of the person associated with that phone number in moments.

Put the phone number into the phone number search, and Spokeo will collate the data for you. Incidentally, there is also an email search function as well as the reverse phone lookup, so you could also input an email address and get the data if you experience the situation outlined in point one further up.

4. Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is extremely effective at keeping your computer protected from hackers, and in turn, also keeping your data safe, especially when you are online. With so many different tricks, scams, and back doors that cyber hackers have up their sleeves nowadays, it's vital that you have cybersecurity installed on your computer, to keep you as safe as possible at all times.

And don't forget, you'll need the program installed on each computer you use, don't just assume because it's on one or because you have an account with the company that all of your other computers are also protected.

Check out below a few great examples of companies that provide cybersecurity, of course, there are plenty more, but these are some of the best.

• Lookout
• Symantec
• KnowBe4
• Crowdstrike
• Cybereason

Safety first

Staying safe online can be easy if you take the right precautions, using tools such as cybersecurity to keep your data safe, and Spokeo to check on who's calling you are just some of the effective ways you can stay out of trouble.

About the author

Maguire Haigh is a marketing manager for Spokeo. He is interested in the latest technology trends, marketing strategies and business development. He also prefers travelling, exploring the world and meeting new people. Maguire has great experience in creating and editing articles on different topics.

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Recommended reading

If you enjoyed this post and have a little extra time to dive deeper down the rabbit hole, why not check out the following posts on web security.

• Will Hetzner's Security Breach cost them the SA Business Awards?
• How Site Maintenance Improves Website Health?
• WordPress Blogs Defaced By Hackers
• Why You Should Upgrade Your Site To TLS 1.3
• How To Protect Yourself When Using Public WiFi
• 9 Simple WordPress Security Tricks to Keep Your Website Safe

Tags: Scams , Business, Guest Post