smallbusiness.co.uk: Helping your business think big

A new warning about the potential for online fraud has been issued by Get Safe Online.

Coming in the wake of revelations from the Office of Fair Trading that as many as one in ten of the population have been personally targeted by fraudsters, Get Safe Online says small business owners should be vigilant against cyber crime.

Tony Neate, managing director of getsafeonline.org, comments: 'If a virus affects the system and it knocks out … your computer so you can't access the hard drive at all, then potentially you've lost all your accounts.

'So it may not stop, say, a local builder; it may not stop him going out and building a wall, but it might stop him sending out invoices; it might have major problems in relation to your VAT and pay as you earn issues. So those are the types of things you've got to worry about.'

Get Safe Online said this summer that 44 per cent of small businesses in the UK have been the victim of cyber crimes, such as identity fraud and data theft.

The same report also stated that, of those businesses affected, 36 per cent had suffered a computer virus and 18 per cent reported being the victim of internet scams such as 'phishing' or hacking in the last two years.

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