As the holiday season approaches, businesses need to prepare, as unfortunately, consumers aren’t the only ones susceptible to scams during this time of the year. Don’t let this bustling time catch your business off guard–avoid some of the most common scams by taking a few simple precautions. Please continue reading to learn how our Connecticut corporate private investigators can help you identify, avoid, and protect your company from scams this holiday season.
What Scams Target Businesses During the Holidays?
You should be mindful of the following scams that could cut into your holiday cheer:
- Business Email Compromise (BEC): Business email compromise fraud is a type of email phishing scheme, which usually targets individuals responsible for paying bills within organizations. In BEC fraud, scammers often impersonate vendors and send emails to employees, asking them to wire money, purchase gift cards, or provide personal information. The con artist then receives those funds instead. During the holiday season, scammers may seize the opportunity to pose as your boss, attempting to trick you into buying gift cards for an office party or making donations to a false cause. To protect your company, always check the sender’s email address and verify any requests with your supervisor to ensure they are legitimate.
- Phony invoices: This time of the year, you should be on to lookout for fake invoices for things like holiday decorations or office supplies. Scammers may demand payments for goods or services that were never ordered or received. It’s important to warn your accounting team of the potential for fake bills and scrutinize all invoices.
- Directory scams: Many con artists try to fool businesses into paying for a listing or ad space in a non-existent directory. Your business may be billed hundreds of dollars for listing services you didn’t agree to or for ads that were never placed. During the holiday, scammers may ask for ads in a real 2025 edition of a real directory. As such, you need to check that the sender is who they claim to be and refrain from closing on untrusted links.
- Stolen identity: Scammers might pretend to be a legitimate company to trick consumers. When this happens, the company’s reputation is tarnished and angry customers ripped off by fraudsters think the real company is responsible. They may place ads on social media to rip off your business name or logo, leading to an impostor website. To prevent this, you should monitor your social media and set up alerts for mentions of your company name.
- Voicemail hacking: Scammers may hack into your company’s voicemail software. This can do major damage during the holidays if you miss important phone calls or reservations. It can sully your reputation. To avoid this, you should regularly update your PIN/passcode and check your recorded greeting.
- Fake charity pitches: You will likely be asked this holiday to donate funds to charitable causes. Fraudsters may send an email pretending to be a charity. Make sure you research charities before donating to ensure you are not deceived.
- Phishing scams: Scammers may attempt to steal sensitive information about your business. Don’t be too quick to open up virtual Christmas cards or funny holiday videos that appear to come from one of your employees or a company you do business with as it could be a ploy. You should always be leery of unsolicited messages.
- Overpayment scams: In this scam, the individual you are conducting business with sends you a check for more than the amount they owe you. Then they will instruct you to wire the balance back to them. The check will bounce and then you are left responsible for the full amount. A fake customer may send you a check for a massive order, and then ask you to send the overage back. You should be skeptical of overpayments and check with the bank.
- Coupon books: Your business may be approached to participate in a coupon book or direct mail promotions. This can become a scam if the terms change or the coupons are not correctly distributed. You should ensure that the person promoting the coupon books is someone you trust and that the terms are spelled out.
- Office supplies: Your business may receive an unexpected call from someone claiming to represent a supply company with which the firm does business. They may claim to be having a Black Friday sale or an end-of-the-year clearance on surplus products at a major discount. Hang up and call the supplier yourself.
- Fake AI services: In this new digital age, artificial intelligence is everywhere. As such, many companies are proposing the purchase of AI software to streamline operations. However, this can lead to scammers posing as a legitimate business offering a “free trial” of their product, and then either not delivering or imposing undisclosed fees. During the holidays, a fake business could offer you an AI solution for your end-of-year inventory, hoping you are too busy to verify their authenticity. To prevent this, always ask for references to ensure you only conduct business with accredited parties.
- Vanity award scams: This scheme capitalizes on a company’s excitement for an award that essentially holds no value. A scammer may pretend you have won an award for business of the year. They want to get you so excited about the honor that you don’t double-check the source and the terms. You should always research organizations offering awards.
As you can see, businesses are often targets of scams with costly consequences, which is why it’s so important that you take extra precautions to safeguard your interests this holiday season. If you have further questions or require the services of a team of skilled private investigators, please don’t hesitate to contact Advanced Investigations today.
