Fraud prevention event in Maidstone

Fraud advice has been given to businesses at the latest community event attended by Kent Police.

Prevent and Protect Fraud Officer, Steve Kelly delivered a presentation to businesses at the Innovation Centre, Maidstone as part of ongoing work to reduce fraud offences.

He covered themes including how to spot the signs of mandate fraud where someone tricks you into changing details of a direct debit, standing order or bank transfer by pretending to be an organisation you make regular payments to. He also spoke about how businesses and their staff can protect themselves from becoming victims of fraud.

Steve said: ‘Business fraud can be dramatic, particularly for small or medium-sized enterprises, where the losses can ruin them. It’s important to understand what the threats are and where they come from so you can take action against them.

‘Events like this are vital to ensure we are all doing our bit to ensure we don’t fall victim.’

Businesses were also encouraged to sign up to the Eastern Cyber Resilience Centre for enhanced cyber protection. The advisory group, partnered with police forces provides bespoke advice and support to businesses regarding cyber fraud. For more information about this contact Steve by email at [email protected]

David Burton, Leader of Maidstone Borough Council said: 'In most cases the harm from cyber attacks on businesses is caused by human error so this workshop offered some really useful tips and insights in how to protect your business from fraud and cyber crime.

'A cyber attack can be disastrous and every business should have a backup plan and know how much they could lose. During the workshop businesses learnt how to protect themselves from data loss and were given a comprehensive set of business continuity and disaster recovery tools.'

For more information about business fraud visit here.