Sadly, people are being scammed all the time and 2022 is no different. As an IT support provider, we see and hear about it constantly. In this article we will educate you on two scams to be aware of in 2022 that have come to our attention. We will also explain how to be assertive to protect yourself.
Scam One
In February 2022 we were notified of the following fraudulent scam. The scammer uses valid business information to obtain telephony services and hardware. Their main objective is ordering large amounts of additional SIM’s to make a very high volume of international calls or the interception of hardware delivery. This leaves resellers with large bills.
Other scams that are similar in nature can also request UK inbound number with portal access to redirect calls overseas, hosted seats, soft clients, and SIP trunks. This type of scam uses valid business information, real company names, bank information, emails, and telephone numbers. This is all to obtain telecom services. The company’s information that is being used doesn’t necessarily mean they are carrying out fraudulent or criminal activities. It could be that their information is being used for fraudulent and criminal purposes by unauthorised people. Therefore, if you discover a company’s information being used in such a way, they may not be aware of it.
The lesson to be learnt here is to be very careful when carrying out credit checks before providing services to other businesses. You may wish to carry out such steps when doing so:
- When using e-sign for signing contracts ensure that you check the IP address origin for where the document was opened and signed. If the location looks suspicious, report it.
- Use www.who.is to confirm details including the registration dates of their domain names on their emails. Too often fraudsters will register domain names to appear legitimate and appear to be the real company.
- Most fraudsters will use free email addresses from Google, Yahoo, Hotmail etc.
Cambridge Support would also recommend making use of Companies House, where you can truly reveal how legitimate the company is. Applying these measures can ensure you don’t become a victim of fraudulent activity.
Scam Two
This next scam could happen to anyone, businesses, or individuals. The scam first starts by stealing the victim’s wallet. This could be carried out several ways. Once the scammer has obtained the wallet, they will call the victim pretending to be their bank. For most banks it is not uncommon for their security team to ring immediately once suspicious activity has been detected. Therefore, the scammer will call the victim stating there has been fraudulent activity and that the bank card(s) need to be cancelled. This trick is easy to become a victim of as it appears legitimate. The scammer will also state that it will take 5 days to issue new cards. This gives the scammers time to clean all the money out of the victim’s bank cards.
To help prevent such a situation happening, we would recommend downloading your banks online bank app. Most online banking apps have an option to freeze your card and its effect is immediate. As soon as you realise your wallet is stolen you can freeze your cards without even calling your bank. If later, you do receive a call from a suspected scammer, one method to find out if it is your bank or not is to provide the wrong password to your account. As the scammer will not know your password whatever you say they will state it is correct. Then you know it is a scammer and you should hang up.
Cambridge Support
Our team of cheerful experts are always here to help and with over 30 years of experience we can help protect your company from scams. Feel free to contact us on 01223 921 000, we are open 7am – 7pm Monday – Friday or email us at ask@cambridgesupport.com.