Small Business Scams: How Not to Get Caught

It’s April when I’m writing this, and you may have had some harmless fun earlier this month with April Fool jokes. But some “tricks” are no joke at all. Small business scams are increasingly common, and therapists are often targeted. That makes it important to know how to spot them and avoid getting caught out.

Why Therapists Are Targeted by Scams

Most hypnotherapists set up in business to help people. But we still have to remember that we are running a business. We publish our contact details so that customers can find us, but scammers and con artists can use them too. People who may try to trick us out of our hard-earned income.

Some scams are aimed particularly at therapists. Some are aimed at businesses in general. I’ve gathered together some of the ones I’ve come across in my years of working for myself, and a few tips to avoid being caught.

I get these a lot and they do target therapists specifically. You get a phone call from someone who claims to be looking for advertisers for a magazine. The magazine is supposedly given free of charge to all nurses / armed forces / emergency services / local council personnel. ‘As you know,’ they say, ‘these people are really stressed and could do with your services. You’ll get lots of clients from this’.  Some may be genuine, but with others, you pay for an ad and nothing is ever published:. The magazine probably doesn’t even exist.

Guarding against this scam:

• Always ask for the personal name, business name, and contact details of the person you are speaking to. Search their phone number online: it may be on sites like http://whocallsme.com/
• If it’s a magazine you’ve never heard of, ask for a copy, or at least visit their website. 
• Don’t feel pressured by short deadlines. If it’s genuine they will happily take your ad for the next issue instead. 
• Ask how many copies will be printed? When and where they will be distributed? Who reads the magazine: age, gender, interests etc? Are they your demographic?
• Ask them to put all these details, along with the price, in writing (email will do). Ask for a contract.
• Read all the paperwork and don’t pay anything till you have it.  
• Do your research. Search online to see if they are genuine. It’s pretty easy to put together a website, so look at it carefully if you find one. On one site I visited the ‘latest issue’ page was months out of date: no real magazine would allow this.
  Post on therapists’ social media groups. Ask if anyone else has heard of them, or got a result from advertising with them.
  Ask anyone you know who is in their alleged target group if they have ever seen or heard of the magazine. More importantly, if they’ve ever read it or looked at the ads.

You are contacted by someone wanting to pre-pay for a block booking of sessions for a child or relative. Or often, several people. In some versions, they are in your area (or even your country) for a limited time. They want you to work to a specific time schedule, and to compensate for this they will pay above your usual rates. The emails often come through directory sites to make them look more legitimate.
They send you a payment for the booking but it is ‘accidentally’ made out for more than the amount due. They ask you to bank it anyway, and refund the overpaid money. The payment is bogus, of course, and you have been conned out of the amount you sent in ‘change’.

How not to get caught by this scam:

• Remember that if a booking looks too good to be true, it probably is
• Consider seriously whether you want to accept a group booking from a third party, even if it’s genuine, which is good practice anyway
• Never refund anyone any money until their payment has cleared. Be aware that such payments can appear in your account a few days before you find out they have bounced
• If the enquiry came through a directory or professional body listing, notify them of what’s happened. They can’t control who contacts you via their site but they can warn others to prevent the fraud from spreading
   

Some years ago, I spent three months in hospital. Shortly after coming out, I got a phone call. It began ‘I’m ringing to let you know your books are ready. I can take payment now over the phone’. According to the caller, I had agreed to sponsor some books about the dangers of recreational drugs to be circulated to all local schools. I knew I hadn’t, and asked for a date when we spoke. He gave me one when I was in hospital and unable to authorise anything. When I queried this, I was told, ‘then someone else in your organisation authorised it’. There’s just me.

Again there are variations on this theme. They might involve charity calendars or sponsorships, and on-line directories. But all try to kid you that you have already agreed to pay, and owe them money.

Protect yourself against this scam:

• Tell them you need to see a copy of the contract you signed. Or some other proof that you agreed to the deal. Without this, do not pay.
• Keep accurate and up to date records of any PR you do authorise.
• In my personal experience, most of these pests ring off as soon as you ask for proof. Or say they will email it and never do.
• If they persist, email and tell them you do not believe you owe the money and do not intend to pay until you see proof.
• It’s rare they are this persistent, but if they threaten to take you to court, or to seize goods to cover your ‘debt’, don’t panic. They need proof to do either and cannot turn up on your doorstep to collect. Get legal advice if you are worried.
   

If you use Google ads. you will know that you only pay for the ads when someone clicks on them. You can choose a daily budget, and when that’s used up, your ads stop showing till the next day. Click fraud can happen in different ways:

• an automated system or a human one (usually subsistence level workers in poor countries) clicks on your ads, with no interest in what you have to sell. This can be used illicitly to make money for the clicker
• an unscrupulous competitor clicks on your ads to waste your budget and stop your ad being shown

Either way, you are paying for clicks that have no chance of leading to clients.

Guarding against click fraud::

• Check your ads regularly. Have you suddenly had lots of clicks in a country you don’t generally do business in, for example? Or a sudden rise in clicks without a corresponding rise in enquiries?
• Google have a click fraud team – after all, they have a vested interest in stopping as much of it as they can. Talk to them if you notice sudden changes in the pattern of clicks you’re getting.
• Make use of your Google account manager, if you have one. Or check out helpful information on you-tube or the Google help pages. And consider investing some time in a CPD course to give you the skills.
• Consider getting click fraud protection software if you think you have a big problem with this.
   

If you feel you have been the victim of fraud or scams, take action. Report what’s happened to whoever is most appropriate. This might be your bank, Google, the Police, Department of Trade and Industry, or Office of Fair Trading. Use social media groups to warn other local businesses. Be careful not to say anything that could be libellous, stick to facts. Sadly, you may not always get your money back, but you can help to stop the scam spreading. But most of all be careful with your record keeping to help prevent the fraud in the first place.

• Get everything in writing
• Never pay anyone anything without proof that you owe it to them
• Remember – again and always – that if an opportunity seems to good to be true it probably is
• Never give out your sensitive or secure data to people you don’t know
• Warn other therapists if you can – via Facebook pages, Linked In groups, support/supervision groups etc, or by posting below
• Get advice from a legal expert, since we can only advise you from our own experience

Disclaimer
The information and ideas shared on this blog are based on the author’s professional experience, research, and training. They are intended for educational purposes and to support reflection and professional development. Therapists should always apply their own professional judgment and consider the needs of individual clients when using any techniques or suggestions discussed here.
While every effort is made to ensure the information is accurate and helpful, no responsibility can be accepted for any loss, damage, or difficulties arising from the use or misuse of material contained in these articles.