An impersonation scam is when you’re convinced to make a payment or give your business’ financial details to someone claiming to be from an organisation you trust. This could include paying a fake HMRC bill or providing your business’s bank details to “your bank”.
Often these scams begin with a call, email or text message that appears to be from a colleague, trusted organisation or supplier.
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Pending tax refund
Mia* received an email HMRC informing her that her business was eligible for a tax refund. The email included a link to the “official claim application form”. She clicked on the link but didn’t take a moment to verify the email. Although the email looked convincing, the email address had and said ‘Dear Customer’ rather than using her name. The email was from a criminal and the form she completed gave them access to her business’s banking information.
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Working from home
Jacob* was having issues connecting to his Wi-Fi while working from home. A pop-up on screen flagged that his computer had been infected by malware. He panicked and called the helpline on the pop-up and was informed by the supplier that he needed to download software so they could access his computer and resolve the issue.
Once the download was complete and the remote access was granted, Jacob was asked to log into some accounts including his business bank to test, not realising that the criminal had already started to move money out of the business’s account.
