Uniting to protect businesses from COVID-19 fraud

Just as SMEs are fighting for survival, fraudsters across the world are looking to steal from them and pocket generous aid money intended to help them through the coronavirus crisis. Now, the nation’s fraud fighters and business organisations are uniting to protect companies that are at risk of falling prey to COVID-19 related scams.

Fraud-fighting professionals from across every industry sector have come together through the Fraud Advisory Panel charity to form the COVID-19 Fraud Watch. Their mission is to protect unsuspecting companies by sharing information on the tricks criminals are using and the best tactics to thwart them. Cabinet Office, DiT, and business bodies including the BCC have all united and are working together to fight this threat to the UK and its businesses.

Guildhawk’s Head of Integrity, David Clarke, is the Chairman of the FAP and is leading this initiative. He says:

“The UK has great crime-fighting partnerships in place, but they tend to focus on data sharing between financial services, law enforcement and Government. FAP COVID-19 Fraud Watch brings all sectors to the virtual conference table to ensure we protect all companies, especially the 1.3m SMEs that do not have fraud-fighting experience.“

SMEs are the lifeblood of our economy, and we wish David and all the other volunteers who are supporting this vital initiative every success. For more information about what you can do protect your business, staff, and the taxpayer from fraud, please visit the below links:

• Fraud Advisory Panel COVID-19 Watch
• Monitor the global situation closely. There have already been various reports of an increased threat from cyber attacks targeting healthcare (hospitals) and social services.
• Implement additional verification procedures before making payments to reduce the risk of payment diversion fraud. For example, by using Skype.
• Report fraud to Action Fraud.
• Consider the adoption of the free www.quad9.net tool which blocks 60m cybercrime events daily and has included a relevant subset of these 20,000 domains.
• Use the Global Cyber Alliance’s ‘working from home’ toolkit.
• Read and act upon the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) guidance for business on:
  • 10 steps to cyber security
  • Working from home and how to spot fake coronavirus emails
  • Allowing staff to use their own devices to work remotely, and
  • How to deal with suspicious emails and messages

Also see: The Thomson Reuters Practical Law free business crime and investigations (England and Wales) tracker on the COVID-19 outbreak.