Small Business Scams

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While individuals may often be the target of fraud and scams, small businesses are a lesser-known victim of many fraudulent crimes. Moreover, small businesses are disproportionately affected by fraud and scams compared to large companies. Unfortunately, small businesses don’t always have the internal auditing and controls necessary to detect employee fraud and embezzlement, and also face the same innovative and hard-to-detect external scams.


Common fraud & scams:
Pre-pay Shipping  
Valuation Fraud  
Employee Fraud and Embezzlement  

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Statistics:

According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), the typical organization loses 5 percent of its annual revenue to occupational fraud. (2010 Report to the Nations, Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, http://www.acfe.com/rttn/2010-rttn.asp) 

Nearly one-quarter of the instances of occupational fraud involved losses of at least $1 million.(2010 Report to the Nations, Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, http://www.acfe.com/rttn/2010-rttn.asp) 

In 2005, data from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) shows that malicious electronic messages cost businesses approximately $2 billion.