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Small Business Scams

7 minute read

Most small-business scams are not technical. They are process failures dressed as urgent requests.

First moves

Do these before the deep dive

  1. Pause any urgent payment, payroll, gift card, or vendor-change request.
  2. Verify through a known channel, not the contact details in the request.
  3. Require a second person for bank-detail changes and unusual payments.
  4. If money was sent, call the bank immediately and ask about recall or fraud procedures.
Words to use

Steal this sentence

I can help, but our policy is to verify payment and payroll changes through a known channel before we act.

Small businesses get hit because people are moving fast and everyone trusts everyone.

That trust is good. It just needs a rail around money.

The Requests That Deserve A Speed Bump

Pause before acting on:

  • New vendor banking details.
  • Payroll direct deposit changes.
  • “CEO” gift card requests.
  • Urgent invoice changes.
  • Domain renewal bills from companies you do not recognize.
  • Accounting, email, or point-of-sale support calls you did not initiate.
  • Any request to bypass the usual person “just this once.”

The exact wording matters less than the change in process.

A Policy Small Enough To Use

Write this down and make it boring:

  1. Vendor bank-detail changes require a phone call to a number already on file.
  2. Payroll changes require confirmation through a known employee channel.
  3. Unusual payments over your chosen threshold require a second person.
  4. Gift cards are never purchased by email or text request.
  5. Nobody gets in trouble for slowing down suspicious money movement.

That last line is the culture. Without it, the policy is theater.

If Money Was Sent

Call the bank immediately. Ask about wire recall, ACH reversal, payment hold, or fraud escalation.

Preserve the invoice, email thread, bank details, phone numbers, domain names, and approval timeline. If email was compromised or internet-enabled fraud occurred, report it to IC3.gov.