Keeping Buyers and Sellers Safe in the Digital World

How can you keep your business data safe? 

It's a complex area, particularly for small businesses. The good news is that there are lots of advice available and helpful guides available on national, global and European sites.

At AvBuyer, we use the leading technology and software solutions to protect data including being part of the Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and using secure password management following the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) guidelines.

Please read our guide below but be aware that new scam templates for email, text and social media are being introduced constantly so the best defence is to question anything that asks you to click on a link or for personal or business data. 

Suspicious email from AvBuyer?

We never ask for financial details such as a list from a client of open invoices or outstanding payment details or anything similar via email.

• If you have even the slightest doubt, call your account manager or Accounts contact at AvBuyer and check. Better safe than sorry. Please do this first. We'll be happy to help.
• Do not reply to the email, do not click on any links, do not call the sender’s phone number.
• Forward the email to your AvBuyer contact so we can monitor and report it. 
• US clients - please also forward the email to spam@uce.gov
• European Clients - please also report via https://www.europol.europa.eu/report-a-crime/report-cybercrime-online
• Make sure your email server adheres to Sender Policy Framework (SPF)

AvBuyer has a Sender Policy Framework record, which means the domain avbuyer.com is tied to a specific IP address. If an email comes through claiming to be from an @avbuyer.com address, but from an IP address that does not match ours, most email clients will instantly flag this up as spam. If you find a lot of spam emails are coming through to your main inbox folder, make sure to check that your email provider is adhering to SPF rules. 

AvBuyer will log any suspicious emails you end us with our national fraud service and log with the relevant email provider.

And please also, visit the government sites in your own country to see the latest advice from experts and sign up to be alerted to the latest trends and activities. 

More Information on Cyber Security:

US - National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) website

Check out this article from NIST on the basics of cybersecurity

Europe - Europol

How to Avoid Phishing Email Scams

A common problem is phishing emails and here's the latest advice from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) website in the US which we think is also useful for global customers. 

Email Tips

1. Who is the email from? 

Look at the "From:" field. Is the sender's name or email address recognisable to you? Are you expecting an email from that person? Does it use a webmail account like Hotmail when it claims to be from a bank?

2. Check the written content of the email: 

Does the email tone match your expectations? Check and compare against previous emails you know to be trusted.

3. Check links before clicking them: 

Before clicking on any links in an email, hover over them first with your mouse. 

The URL will be displayed at the bottom of your browser. Check that the URL is what is expected, with the correct domain. If in doubt, do not click the link.

4. Avoid ‘unsubscribe’ options: 

Cynically, spammers often include an ‘unsubscribe’ link. Far from removing the menace, clicking it will confirm that your address is active and probably attract even more spam. So avoid clicking these if possible unless it is for an email product that you are certain you had signed up to.

Don't let the scammers affect your business. Be alert, think twice and if in doubt, stop and follow the steps outlined.