A study by Javelin Strategy and Research found that small business owners are twice as likely as individuals to experience fraud. There are many scams to accelerate this, such as fake invoices, fake directory listings in web-based directories, and one currently circulating involving Intuit.
It starts in the familiar way. A user receives email, supposedly from Intuit. It claims that the company has received a request from the business owner to change the business name for its business-related services (i.e. QuickBooks). It conveniently includes a paragraph stating that if the business owner did not actually request the change, he or she can click on a link.
That link, however does not go to Intuit or QuickBooks, but to a dating site in The Netherlands (it has a “.nl” extension). Once at the site, you may be treated to some “questionable content,” asked for personal information, and/or acquire malware onto your device.
Always be 100% sure that you really want to click any links or open attachments that arrive in unsolicited or unexpected email messages. A quick way to see if the link is indeed going where you think it should is to hover over it with your mouse pointer without clicking. If it looks odd, don’t click it. If you are on a mobile device, you can hold down on the link for a few seconds (being careful to hold it long enough) and it will show you where it’s headed. Better than that, confirm that the sender did indeed send you the email before doing anything. But don’t simply hit the reply button. Give them a call, text, walk to his or her desk, or start a brand-new email message to do this. Often, scammers will make the senders name appear familiar or legitimate, but with further inspection, it’s fake. Therefore, replying to the message won’t help you.
If you find a scam involving Intuit or any of its products, report it to the company by going to its Contact Page. You can also report it to the Better Business Bureau using its BBB Scam Tracker.
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