Nearly one in five (17%) small business owners cannot always spot online fraud, according to new research from UK Finance.

The data comes from the result from a quiz developed by the Take Five to Stop Fraud and Amazon titled “Can you spot fraud,” which quizzed over 7000 respondents since it launched last year.

Recreating a busy office environment, the quiz takes users through a series of potentially fraudulent situations.

While some scams, like impersonation scams, appeared to be easier to spot, users tended to struggle with procurement scams, where a user is deceived into appointing a new supplier without going through normal procurement processes, typically resulting in financial loss.

The data follows some startling recent figures from UK Finance revealing that criminals stole £42.6 million from businesses through such scams known as authorised push payment (APP) fraud in just the first six months of 2023.

APP scams occurs when fraudsters tricks their victim into sending money directly from their account to one which the criminal controls.

Other common ways criminals target businesses are through CEO scams and invoice and mandate scams. The latter occur when criminals pose as regular suppliers and convince costumers to change their existing bank account details.

In a CEO scam, criminals impersonate your boss or a senior manager to convince you to make an urgent payment outside of a business’s internal procedure.

Businesses are often a target for criminals as their accounts generally hold more money than the average consumer. Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) can be more at risk than other businesses as they may have fewer protective measures to detect fraud and less regular training on the issue.

“We can see that businesses are increasingly alive to scams. But criminals are also increasingly sophisticated in targeting them,” Paul Maskall, fraud and cybercrime prevention manager at the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit said

“It’s imperative that businesses keep their guard up. We’re encouraging SMEs to reflect on their internal training, culture and policies, and to follow the advice of the Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign: take a moment to stop and think as it could keep your business safe.”

Recommended reading

• FCA: Victim Support and Anti-fraud Systems Need Improvement
• Smart Data Foundry Partners with FCA to Tackle Fraud
• Online Payment Fraud to hit £284.9bn in Predicted Losses by 2028

David Raw, managing director of commercial finance at UK Finance said: “Fraud can be devastating for firms – especially small businesses, the lifeblood of the UK economy. As criminals develop more and more complex ways to break through businesses’ defences, many smaller firms often just don’t have the same security resources as their bigger counterparts. That means they need to be hyper-vigilant.

“If you own or work for a small business, remember: when you’re making bigger payments, always check the details with your supplier directly through trusted contact routes. You can also do our Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign quiz to get more advice and arm yourself with knowledge for the fight against fraud.”