Business scams

In this guide, we explain business scams. 

A scam is when someone tries to: 

• trick you 
• take your money.

If you think your business has been scammed, it’s important you know what to do.

For example, you should stop contacting the scammer. 

A scammer is a person who does a scam.

You can find out more on our What you should do if you have been scammed page.

You should not give your bank details to someone you aren’t comfortable sharing them with.

You should never share information about your business if you don’t know how someone will use it.

You should not open emails or website links you don’t know.

You should not agree to an offer for your business without taking the time to check it. 

For example, an offer might be a great deal or service.

If you are unsure about the offer, you can ask someone you trust for advice. 

For example, your manager.

You should check the information of any new business you work with.

This includes checking their Australian Business Number (ABN). 

An ABN is a number you need to have when you run a business or company in Australia.

You can check someone’s ABN on the Australian Business Register website.

You should also check that new businesses you work with are registered. 

When a business is registered, it means they have followed the right steps to become a business.

You can call Australian Securities and Investments Commission to check if a business is registered. 

1300 300 630

You can also call NSW Fair Trading to check if a community organisation is registered. 

13 32 20

You should ask for help from an expert if you need it. 

For example, from a lawyer. 

A lawyer is someone who knows and understands the law.

You should not agree to buy something for your business over the phone.

You might want to pay a company to promote your business. 

For example, you might buy an ad in a magazine or newspaper.

You should ask the company for other copies of their magazine or paper. 

You should also check how they share their magazine or paper with other people.

You should only pay a company to promote your business if you have agreed to it in writing.

You should have rules about what you and your staff can buy for the business.

You should make sure only some of your staff are allowed to buy things for your business.

You should also keep a record of what you and your staff buy for the business.

You should train your staff to know: 

• what scams look like 
• how to deal with scams.

You should read all the paperwork to make sure there are no hidden costs before you buy something for the business.

An invoice is a document that includes: 

• services or items that need to be paid for 
• the amount that needs to be paid.

Scammers will send you a fake invoice for: 

• items you didn’t order 
• services you didn’t use.

They hope you will pay this invoice without asking any questions.

Scammers will act like they’re from a magazine or newspaper. 

They might say you agreed to pay them to promote your business.

Scammers might tell you that their magazine will go to print soon and you need to pay them right away.

They also might send you an invoice to pay a magazine you have never heard of.

A domain name is the address of a website. 

For example, ‘www.fake-domain-name.com.au’.

People need to pay every few years to keep the domain name for their website.

Scammers might send you an invoice for a domain name that looks like your website. 

But this domain name is not the same. 

For example, it might say ‘net.au’ instead of ‘com.au’.

Scammers also might act like the organisation that manages your domain name. 

For example, the NSW Government.

Scammers might send you a letter saying it’s time to pay for your domain name.

Scammers will call you to say they’re from a technology business.

They will ask you to: 

• turn on your computer 
• share information about your computer.

Scammers will use this information to: 

• take control of your computer 
• get your bank details.

Scammers will try to get you to share information about your bank details.

They will send you emails: 

• saying they’re from your bank 
• asking you for your information, like passwords for your online bank.

Scammers might call you and ask for a new order number for something you didn’t order.

They will tell you: 

• you made this order with them a long time ago 
• they lost the order number 
• someone in your business already agreed to the order.

Scammers might say you: 

• asked them to promote your business 
• need to pay for their work.

Scammers might also tell you they are from the government. 

They will tell you that: 

• you owe money when you don’t 
• you must pay them this money.

Phone scams are also called ‘telemarketing’.

Scammers might contact you about a business opportunity. 

They might: 

• call you 
• send you an email 
• send you a letter.

A business opportunity might be a scam if you: 
 

• need to pay money first

• pay for a system to make money that doesn’t work

• have to make other people join the business opportunity.

You should check the address of the person offering you the opportunity. 

Some scammers will use a post office box as their address.

Scammers might send you a fax about a great deal or service. 

They will ask you to send back a fax to a certain number if you want it.

This number will charge you money for each minute the fax takes to send to them. 

But the scammers will make sure your fax takes a long time to send so they can get more money from you.

Scammers from overseas might try to scam your business.

There was an overseas scam where a group of scammers: 

• said they’re from the Nigerian Government 
• asked businesses to take part in a deal.

The deal was meant to let businesses take out money from a bank account. 

But they had to send some money into this bank account to be able to use it.

To take part in this deal, the scammers asked for some of their information. 

This included:  

• their bank details 
• a blank invoice they had signed 
• a blank document with their business logo.

Before businesses could take out money, the scammers would make them pay more money. 

These businesses lost $250,000 to $1 million.

And they never got their share of the other money.