We have seen across social media an umbrella company have been subject to a scam attempt.

Last week the company received an enquiry from an American gentleman, looking to pay 3 candidates through the business, as long as they can operate on payment terms.

This isn’t necessarily an uncommon request. Before getting the credit approved on “his” company, the “business owner” booked a meeting immediately.

Luckily, the company did some digging internally and the company, that he was claiming to be a part of had a notice on their website, which ultimately was enough for the business to bring a halt to the deal.

The ideal situation for the scammer would have been to process 3 candidates that don’t exist into his bank accounts, so that he can disappear with the funds.

There are plenty of due diligence checks in place to help prevent these scams from happening when the company is UK based, such as:

• Checking the company on Companies House Website : https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/companies-house
• The Company’s Website
• Internet Search
• Credit Check
• ID Checks of Directors, Shareholders etc.

However, in this isolated situation with the company being offshore it would require very strong due-diligence checks.

In addition, to offer credit/payment terms you would have knowledge of a strong company trading history, knowledge of the company and is always something you should something you be alerted too when suggested.

Our strong recommendation is to seriously check out all offshore entities before offering any terms.