Cork companies are being warned to be extremely vigilant, as fraudsters are targeting the business community with a number of scams.

According to the Irish Small & Medium Enterprises Association (ISME), fraudsters are increasingly trying to rip off small companies with a variety of scams including false advance fee contracts, entries into business directories, email phishing, bogus bank account verification and confirmation of "winnings" in international lotteries, being among the favourite scams perpetrated.

The recent ISME Crime Survey '08 confirmed that 69 per cent of businesses had been the target of a scam in the last twelve months, an increase of 16 per cent on 2007 figures. Overseas offers, business directories and Lotto winnings are the three most prevalent scams being attempted.

ISME Chief Executive, Mark Fielding confirmed that the Association has received an increased number of calls since the beginning of June from companies who are being inundated with pseudo-requests, spurious invoices and sham deliveries, in the mail or over the internet, which are the actions of fraudsters.

He also warned companies to be particularly wary of any unsolicited correspondence received in relation to non-existent professional guides and Internet directories. "These are proving to be particularly problematic and in the last couple of weeks numerous companies have received invoices and "update" requests from companies, based in Switzerland, the Netherlands and Spain. This information is sought ostensibly to update a directory and states that updating is 'free of charge' but eventually leads to a request for payment, once returned to the directory company." he said. IMSE say these scams are particularly prevalent during the summer holidays as fraudsters are aware that, in many cases, senior management may be out of the office leaving more junior staff to take decisions. This can result in a staff member signing for something that they should not be signing, resulting in the company being tied to a contract. Most of these scams concern invoices for subscriptions for online business directories.

ISME advised that companies should check all invoices carefully and nominate one or two senior staff who must sign all documentation going to third parties in relation to directories and the like.

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