Small businesses are often prone to being exposed to one scam or another. As scammers often view them as easier targets, having less capital to put in place adequate anti-scam measures, unlike large businesses.
As a small business owner in Nigeria, do not be caught unaware. Educate yourself on all possible business scams.
Below are some common business scams you need to know as a small business in Nigeria:
Phishing scams:
This happens when a scammer impersonates a credible source, such as a company or government agency, and sends an email or link to a business owner or employee with the aim of tricking them into disclosing sensitive information, including banking information, passwords, and other sensitive details.
These emails usually have malicious links attached or look almost the same as a credible organization’s website and also contain urgent or threatening content mandating immediate attention. Scammers typically create a fake website using similar characters that are difficult to distinguish from the official website. For instance, www.ubɑ.com instead of www.uba.com. Inadvertently, the receiver believes they are visiting the legitimate website. Consequently, this leads to loss of funds and private information.
Directory Listings Scam:
Some scammers sometimes track small business visibility online, and when they notice it is a small business without much needed visibility yet. Then, they come with a juicy offer promising to improve their online visibility. They often charge expensive fees, promising non-existent services, and they disappear after receiving payment.
To identify these scammers, they are usually unable to give a proper breakdown of where your business will be listed, lacking transparency. Their company name also sounds unfamiliar.
Business loan/Grant scam:
Targeting small businesses with an offer of guaranteed loans or grants is also another tactic utilized by scammers to extort money or sensitive personal information from small business owners. They often request upfront fees or financial information, then disappear without a trace, without providing the guaranteed loans or grants as promised.
As a small business owner, ensure to treat with caution unsolicited loans or grants offering instant approval without adequate verification of business, especially those requesting application fees or processing fees. Including those that use urgency language like “only a few slots left, offer expires in 2 hours, Urgent action required,” amongst others.
Fake Invoice Scam:
Scammers sometimes send invoices to businesses demanding payment for an order or service, often pretending to be from a legitimate source. It is sometimes accompanied with an unreasonable deadline or reference to an unfamiliar order.
Using this tactic, scammers pose as legitimate vendors or service providers and send fake invoices to businesses, often using real-looking branding, names and contact details. They sometimes study a company’s supplier list and imitate them to look authentic.
How to Avoid These Scams
- Before clicking on any link, always look closely to ensure it is a credible website, especially the letter ‘a’. Scammers usually use the Cyrillic alphabet ‘ɑ’ in place of this ‘a’.
- Do not click on suspicious links, especially from unknown senders.
- Ensure due diligence in confirming payment by contacting the service provider. Also, educate your staff as a business owner to check invoices closely before making payments.
- Avoid sharing sensitive business information with unverified third parties.
- Before doing business with any third party, search for the business’s name online, if it’s a scam, it is highly likely someone has called out the business online, and you can easily get reviews from there.
