Dion Dublin on business scams

The latest figures from Barclays suggest there has been an uptick in SMEs falling victim to fraudsters, as scams targeting businesses increased by almost a third (31%*) in January and February, when compared with the same period last year. SMEs in the property and construction sector made up almost a quarter of all business scams last year (24%), followed
by retail businesses (21%). On average, each scam costs property and construction SMEs a staggering £4,110.

Alongside the hundreds of millions of pounds of fraud prevented by Barclays last year, the bank is issuing a warning to all SMEs to raise awareness of the tactics criminals are using and continues to run weekly fraud awareness webinars that any business can join to find out about
staying safe. Impersonation scams were the most commonly used to target businesses in 2020 (44%), with figures more than doubling in the second half of the year when compared with the first half (62%). Impersonation scams are when fraudsters pretend to be organisations or authorities in the hope that they’ll trick their victims into sharing personal or banking information – or to even transfer money out of their account.

Aston spoke to Dion Dublin, former Aston Villa and England footballer and TV presenter and John Heaver, head of business banking fraud at Barclays to discuss the latest figures, and explain why it’s incredibly important that business owners and their staff are aware of the different type of scams that can occur, as well as the steps that businesses can take to stay safe.

Photo by Colin Watts on Unsplash