Any sort of fraud or scam can be impactful, whether you’re an individual or an organisation. Our criminal solicitors have helped many clients navigate what is often a damaging and financially impactful situation.
Unfortunately, these scams are only becoming more effective, with scammers themselves becoming more efficient in their methods used to trick victims into handing over information or money.
In this guide, you’ll learn the top seven red flags that we, as fraud solicitors, would recommend you shouldn’t ignore when it comes to fraud.
Regardless of the customers or clients that you work with, there should always be some due diligence when it comes to doing a bit of research and digging on these individuals.
While it might not be a lot of information that’s needed or wanted as a business, legitimising these individuals is important to make sure they are who they say they are.
Something as simple as validating email addresses, making sure payment cards match up with shipping or billing addresses, is a good way to ensure the customer or client is who they say they are.
Be aware of account information and any inconsistencies that might appear. Anyone who’s not keen on giving out accurate information is someone to keep a closer eye on.
One of the most common habits of scammers is the unusual patterns of behaviour that occur before a fraud attempt. Sometimes, for businesses, these unusual patterns have already happened, and the individual is long gone with their data or money, whichever is more valuable.
Unusual transaction patterns are worth having an awareness of because these could be tell-tale signs of a scammer trying to cheat the system. It’s good to have a system in which you can flag these unusual transactions so that you can take a closer look.
Most of the time, it might be harmless, but if you’ve not got this tracking system in place, that’s where fraudulent activity can occur right under your nose, but without your knowledge.
VPNs are certainly something to be mindful of when it comes to red flags you shouldn’t ignore. When someone is using a VPN during their browsing session, it’s often because they don’t want to be tracked.
A lot more people in general online now use VPNs in order to get past security on a site they shouldn’t be on. A lot do it for the purpose of streaming their favourite television shows or movies.
However, some people use VPNs to fly under the radar when committing fraudulent activity. Be mindful of anyone using a VPN when stepping onto your site, and keep a close eye on these individuals as they appear.
One of the most common approaches when it comes to fraud and scam artists is unexpected correspondence. These are the random emails that land in your inbox or the calls that come through while you’re busy at work.
While a lot of the correspondence you see in life, both work and personal, is legitimate, some of it can be a form of fraud.
For example, phishing emails are often sent in order to encourage the recipient to click on a link or to download a file. However, what this actually tends to be is a virus. Upon clicking the link or downloading the seemingly safe file, your device becomes compromised.
We’d all like to have randomly inherited a million pounds from a rich uncle we never knew existed. However, the reality of that is often almost non-existent.
However, many people, both in their personal lives and professionally, can fall for those opportunities that are too good to be true.
As fraud lawyers, we’re very much aware of the lengths these scammers will go to lull their victims into something that they initially believe to be legitimate.
It’s best to have an attitude of ‘if it seems too good to be true’, it probably is. These scams are designed to make you feel as though you’ve lucked out, when in fact, it makes you ripe for the taking!
Sometimes, the scams can come from internally. While you’d never want to see any of your staff members turn against the business, it certainly has happened to some before.
Whether they’re hired for a role that they seem perfect for but are pretending in order to infiltrate from the inside, to actively stealing money through credit card fraud, it’s important to always have one eye on your staff members too.
As well as weeding out the bad apples from your company, you also want to train the good ones to be aware of the scams that exist. By training them, you’re going to provide peace of mind that the company is being run in safe hands, in all departments.
As businesses in the modern world, we use technology for a lot of things. While it can be great and a way to leverage the organisation, it can also be the very thing that brings it to its knees.
If you’re experiencing odd technology behaviour, from your logins not working properly to software malfunctioning, these are all red flags that something or someone might be compromised.
For technology that seems to have been compromised or is acting suspiciously, it’s always good to do security patch updates and to keep on top of these to protect those applications.
Fraud solicitors are a great help for those who need advice and guidance, whether they’ve been a victim of fraud or are being accused of such. Our 24-hour solicitors work tirelessly to help those who are in what can be a nightmare situation.
With that in mind, if you find yourself in need of legal support, we can certainly help. From credit card fraud to tax fraud, our solicitors are available to support you and your business get back on its feet and acquire justice where it’s needed.
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