Have you received a notice of renewal from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in relation to your business name? Was it genuine?
Scammers pretending to be from ASIC have been contacting business owners asking them to pay fees and give personal information to renew their business or company name.
These emails often have a link to an invoice with fake payment details or infects your computer with malware if you click on it.
Look for the warning signs that indicate the email is not from ASIC:
An email is probably a scam if it asks you to:
- make a payment over the phone
- make a payment to receive a refund
- provide your credit card or bank details directly by email or phone.
How to protect yourself from email scams:
- keep your anti-virus software up to date
- be wary of emails that don’t address you by name or misspell your details and have attachments
- don’t click any links in suspicious emails.
ASIC will only issue a business name renewal notice 30 days before your renewal date so if you receive something outside this usual time frame, it might be a scam.
If you doubt the authenticity of an email you’ve received from ASIC, contact them on 1300 300 630 or call us on 08 9321 2642.
This information is provided to you by the Small Business Development Corporation (Dated: 4 August 2017)
