21 Business Scams and How to Avoid Them: 21 Book Series

Introduction

Running a business is tough enough, but unfortunately that doesn’t mean that other people aren’t in the business of making it even more difficult. Advancements in technology have made it even easier for would-be scammers to easily dupe business owners out of their hard earned money. As these bottom dwellers become aware of new underhanded ways to subtly infiltrate even the savviest of defensive maneuvers, business owners everywhere are finding themselves falling victim to fresh and new-fangled tactics. It’s incredibly difficult to consistently stay on top of these rapidly emerging trends in the scam industry, thus leading to a perpetual cat and mouse game waged everyday in the lobbies and warehouses of workplaces around the world.

Rip-offs are responsible for thousands upon thousands of dollars in lost earnings for businesses each year. The sad truth is that in many cases, recouping the money lost from a successful con can cost more to a company than was lost in the first place, and therefore many are simply ignored. Most scams involve the swindling of only small amounts of money from a large number of companies which adds to their overall success, and the likelihood that their acts will be overlooked by the majority of those affected. For this reason, it’s important to be aware of potential scams seeking business targets in order to avoid them before they become a problem for you and your organization.

1 – Walking Fingers (and Profits)

Who uses the yellow pages anymore? Well surprisingly, while the internet has made finding information in a hurry incredibly simple, those thick and awkward door stops are still readily used by individuals and businesses across the country. Though their footprint has gotten smaller, with the majority of the books now being produced in more compact mini versions, they still contain the same information – company names, phones numbers and addresses – along with larger, premium advertisements. False billings for these premium advertisements comprise one of the largest scams that target businesses. Shockingly, in a country where trademark and copyright law seem well enough suited to make fraudulent copycatting virtually impossible, this small fact has led to big headaches for business owners in the case of phone directories.

Yes, the familiar walking fingers logo and related lingo were never copyrighted in the United States, and what this means is that scammers have a huge creative window within which to make incredibly legitimate looking bills and invoices to send out to businesses across the country. Most of these invoices are for renewals for advertisements in phony or nonexistent publications (not the phone books distributed in your neighborhood). They look very realistic and, many of them are tied to online directory services.  It may come as no surprise then that when these invoices for advertising renewal services come in many of the bills are readily paid, because they are easily mistaken for advertisements in the well known phone directory.

The trick may start with the receipt of one of these invoices out of the blue; however, it may also start with a phone call.