Small business owners are the soft target. You handle real money, you trust people in your inbox, and you are too busy to second-guess every email. The Scam Defence Playbook walks you through the nine scams that hit small businesses hardest right now, the exact red flags for each, what to say or do in the first ten minutes, and a 24-hour recovery plan if you have already been hit. Plain language, no jargon, AI refreshed.
Banks have fraud teams. Big corporates have IT security. Government agencies have cyber units. You have a Gmail account, an accountant who does the books once a month, and a partner who handles the invoices when you are on a job. Scammers know this. They go where the defences are softest.
Most small business scams do not look like scams. They look like a supplier sending a new bank account, a courier asking you to confirm an address, a Microsoft alert about a suspicious sign-in, a tax agency asking you to verify before deadline. The harm is done before you realise something is wrong.
The Scam Defence Playbook is the playbook the bank does not give you. Nine specific scams with specific red flags, specific response scripts, and specific recovery steps. By the time you finish, you will be able to spot every one of these in the first 30 seconds.
An email from a real supplier with a real subject line and a new bank account in the footer. The supplier name is right. The amount is right. The bank account is the scammer's. You pay it. The real supplier asks where their money is two weeks later.
Caller knows your business name, your trading style, and that you owe tax. They tell you a warrant is being prepared. They want you to verify your bank details, or pay a "deferral fee" with iTunes vouchers. Classic government impersonation. Real agencies never call like this.
An invoice arrives that looks like one of your normal supplier invoices. Right format, right line items, slightly different account number. Your bookkeeper pays it on autopilot. Nobody notices for six weeks.
You lost money in a previous scam. A new contact reaches out claiming they can recover it. They just need a "tax fee" or "verification deposit" first. You pay. They disappear. This is recovery scam, the second-stage hit on already-hurt victims.
Unsolicited job offer, work from home, decent pay. The job is to receive parcels at your address or accept transfers and forward them on, minus a fee. You are being recruited as a money mule. Your bank account becomes the laundering layer.
The first hour after you realise is the hour that decides whether the money comes back. Most small businesses do the wrong things in panic. The 24-hour recovery plan in this playbook is the difference between recovering 80% and recovering 0%.
Every section is personalised to your business, your country, and your industry. Every red flag is named in plain language. Every response script is copy-paste ready. Every section has an AI update button so the playbook tracks new scam variants as they emerge.
Business email compromise, supplier fraud, payroll redirect. The most expensive small-business scam by a wide margin. Six red flags, the dual-channel verification rule, and the script your bookkeeper says when an invoice arrives.
The invoice that looks like one of yours but is not. The eight tells. The 30-second checklist your bookkeeper runs before paying anything over $500. What to do if a fake invoice already cleared.
The "your account has been suspended" email. The fake login page. The MFA prompt you did not request. How phishing connects to ATO, payroll fraud, and customer data leaks. Lock-down playbook for staff accounts.
"This is Microsoft. Your computer is sending out viruses." The fake support call, the screen-share trap, the bank-account drain that follows. What real platforms never do, plus the script that ends the call in 5 seconds.
IRD, ATO, HMRC, IRS. The voicemail with the warrant threat. The "verify your details" SMS with a link. How real tax agencies actually contact you, and the country-specific reporting routes when they do not.
The dating app to crypto investment pipeline. The "guaranteed 5% per day" fund. The "exclusive opportunity" introduced by a stranger. Why these target small business owners specifically. The five-test sniff check.
Already lost money? You will be approached again, often within weeks. "Pay this fee and we will recover your funds." This is the second-stage scam that targets confirmed victims. How to spot it and where to actually report.
Unsolicited job offers. Receive packages, forward payments, buy crypto on commission. Your bank account becomes the laundering layer. Why these are growing fast in 2026 and how to recognise them in the first email.
Fake buyer asks to ship before payment clears. Friendly fraud chargebacks weeks after the work was delivered. The fake stripe receipt screenshot. How to verify a payment before it really lands.
The first hour, the first six hours, the first 24 hours after you realise you have been hit. Bank, police, reporting bodies, internal comms, customer comms. The exact order, the exact wording, country by country.
Every section has a Check for Updates button. Press it and Claude scans the web for the latest variants of that scam, the newest red flags, and the most current reporting routes. New scams appear every month; this playbook tracks them. No subscription. No upgrade. Built in.
Business name, country, industry, and a couple of context fields. No payment yet. Takes 90 seconds.
Delivered overnight via private link. Sections 1 and 2 (the two most expensive scams for small businesses) are fully unlocked so you can see exactly what you are getting before you pay a cent.
Pay once inside the playbook. Sections 3 to 10 unlock instantly. No subscription, no upsells, no follow-up sales calls. Yours forever.
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Nine common scams, exact red flags, the response script, the 24-hour recovery plan. $99 once.
Get the PlaybookA "supplier" emailed us with new bank details on a Friday afternoon. The playbook's red flag list caught it. We'd nearly paid $14,000. Best $99 I've spent on the business.
