Avoid Letting Fraud Take Over Your Business

Do you at times worry that fraud will creep into your business world in one manner or another? If so, you’re likely not alone.

For many running companies, the fear of fraud infiltrating their business model can be quite a scary thought.

Whether it is fraud from customers, employees, perhaps even competitors, knowing that your business could suffer both in terms of financial losses and public relations setbacks is ominous.

That said are you doing enough to lessen the chances of fraud creeping into your company?

Taking Steps to Keep Out Fraud

In order to greatly reduce the odds that fraud will infiltrate your business anytime soon, keep these tips in mind:

• Customer transactions – It is not a big secret that you would not be in business in the first place were it not for your customers. That being the case, you expect your customers to treat you fairly when it comes to buying goods and/or services from you. The main focus there is that they pay for their purchases in a timely manner. If they do not pay on the spot, then they are expected to pay shortly after you invoice them. Either way, not getting paid when you make a sale is not an option. Without that revenue coming in, you will be out of business sooner rather than later. To greatly avoid the possibility of getting caught in an unenviable position, be on the lookout for potential customer fraud, fraud that may have been planned or resulted in someone changing their mind about a purchase they made with you. When you stop fraudulent chargebacks, you stand a much better chance of being in business for the long haul. No matter the reason for the customer not wanting to pay you after they bought a product or service, you can’t afford to take financial hit after hit. When the customer doesn’t pay, you get hit with chargeback fees, something many merchants will tell you can be quite costly over time;
• Employee fraud – Although you’d hate to think someone you hired could end up pulling a fast one on you, it regrettably happens much more often than people hear about. As a result, the financial implications can be damaging to a business owner, especially those running on financial tightropes as it is. Although it can at times be hard to prevent employee fraud, some signs are rather noticeable. For starters, is one of your employees acting differently as of late? Some signs would be not wanting to converse with and/or share their work with others, staying late or coming in early on a regular basis (it isn’t always a sign they’re there to do work), or taking a greater than normal interest in the company’s financials. One note about that; should you have more than one person overseeing the company’s financial books? While some businesses are perfectly fine with one person handling this, others like to have at least two people reviewing the numbers. By doing the latter, you greatly lessen the odds that one individual will be out for themselves and ultimately stealing from your company.

Sending a Message Regarding Fraud

• Actions have consequences – Finally, it is important that customers and employees for that matter know that there are consequences for fraudulent actions. Although it can be more difficult to go after customers when they try and pull one over on you, you do have much more leverage when it comes to your workers. Let it be known that not only can an employee be fired for committing fraud against your business, but they could end up having legal charges filed against them. Although some people will do whatever is necessary to steal from companies, knowing that the business owner will prosecute can certainly serve as a deterrent.

As a business owner, have you dealt with fraud in your company?

If so, how have you gone about handling it?