A number of manipulating scams are currently being used by criminals to try to get you to pass over your personal information and transfer money.

Recent scams appear to be telephone calls or emails from what appears to be your suppliers saying that your account is overdue. These calls and emails are very convincing and sound just like what you would expect from your supplier. They may also come from emails addresses with your supplier’s name in them.

Steps you can take to help reduce the chance of falling into a scam:

• Look out for anomalies - would you expect your supplier to end an email with e.g ‘cheers’?
• Do you normally pay invoices on time? Have you got the relevant invoice for the payment in question?
• Were you expecting this, is the goods/service something that you would buy/have bought?
• Do the emails look the same as emails you have previously received and do you normally receive emails/ telephone calls?
• Change passwords regularly and ensuring they contain a combination of upper and lower case as well as symbols.
• Telephone the sender of the email if unsure using their normal contact details rather than the details on the email.

Another popular scam at the moment is from criminals acting as HMRC. When receiving emails from HMRC about tax rebates or refunds please ignore these as HMRC will never send notifications via email. Do not visit the website, open attachments or disclose personal or payment information associated with these emails.

The content of this article is for general information only and does not constitute tax advice. It should not be relied upon and action which could affect your business should not be taken without appropriate professional advice.