Who's Stealing Your Business?

By Gay Bryant,
Filed Under: Small Business, Management, Business Resources
Fraud is on the rise as technology makes it easier for competitors and con artists to rip off your products, ideas, and cash. Learn from entrepreneurs who got wise the hard way.

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(FORTUNE Small Business) -- As if you didn't have enough to worry about.

Fraud of all sorts - embezzlement, business identity theft, patent infringement, and product counterfeiting - is increasing. The median loss from embezzlement cost small companies $190,000 in 2006, up from $98,000 in 2004, according to the latest numbers from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

The number of patent-infringement lawsuits rose 6% last year. New research has found that counterfeit goods account for an estimated 15% to 20% of all products manufactured in China, says Donald Manzullo, R-Illinois, former chairman of the House Committee on Small Business.

The advance of technology has made it easier than ever for the unscrupulous to victimize your business. Consider that hundreds of pages of sensitive financial information can be stored on a USB drive the size of a thumb - or that millions of dollars can disappear with the flick of a computer key.

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Fortune Small Business

    In March the regional supermarket chain Hannaford Bros., headquartered in Portland, Maine, discovered that hackers had broken into its database and rerouted customers' credit card information to accounts overseas.

    In another case, an accountant who had electronic access to the books of 15 small companies diverted $1 million meant to pay taxes to his own account. In another case, a thief set up a phony website that mirrored that of a small business, ordered thousands of dollars of supplies from Office Depot, and then had the bills sent to the real business owner.

    Given all the day-to-day challenges small-business owners face, most feel they don't have the time, patience, or money to protect themselves. This helps explain why small businesses are nearly twice as likely to be victims of fraud as are big corporations.



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      jayaustinmoore 06:38:12 AM Jun 23 2008

      Report This!

      MORE OIL...LESS KOOKS

      thewebdeziner 12:35:20 AM Jun 23 2008

      Report This!

      My daughter's ex-father-in-law owned 6 Exxon stations in southern california. The guy never worked a day, had more money than god, and was the biggest crook around.

      meggawhats 10:52:26 PM Jun 22 2008

      Report This!

      Don't blame the Oil Companies,blame the idiots that vote for these crazy and sick environmentalists who are destroying this country.
      What about the US government and the states. You only hear about the taxes you see on the pump,about 60 cents on avarage going to the government and the states.What you don't see is the hidden taxes going to the government like the tanker transport tax,the storage tank tax,the truck delivery tax,etc etc.
      Add up all the hidden taxes and add them to the pump taxes and you are talking well over a dollar in just taxes.
      NYC caught about 1/3 of the stations they inspected rigging their pumps to cheat the consumer as well.
      The weak dollar by Bernacke who is giving away the Federal Reserve to the crooked banks is a major reason we are paying more for everything.Don't bail out the banks(Let them fail) help the people who were victimized by them.
      Like I said,everyone associated with oil is screwing us and then some.
      Can you say Depression. I do believe we are headi

      meggawhats 10:50:57 PM Jun 22 2008

      Report This!

      The oil companies want to drill offshore and in the US.Everyone is ripping us off.......don't just blame the oil companies.
      When Big Oil wanted the Alaskan Pipeline built and they lobbyed hard until they got it.The oil that was sent through the pipeline was not used in the US,for the most part it went to the Asian countries like Japan and China.
      Even if the oil companies discover billions of barrels of oil right here in the US,how are they going to refine it ?The Democratic Liberal Environmentalists are blocking every effort to relieve the current oil crisis by not allowing Refineries to be built,Nuclear Power Plants,Clean Coal and just about everything else you can think of.
      Don't blame the Oil Companies,blame the idiots that vote for these crazy and sick environmentalists who are destroying this country.
      What about the US government and the states. You only hear about the taxes you see on the pump,about 60 cents on avarage going to the government and the states.What you don't see is

      meggawhats 10:49:35 PM Jun 22 2008

      Report This!

      Posted By: luweegee3 07:00:53 PM Jun 22 2008

      We are getting ripped off right in front of our eyes with the oil companies arent we?? Lets ask some oil exec this question,,,,,Why is the united states oil companies selling oil to the american people by the OPEC world market price of oil? Dont we have our own oil ? and cant we sell our oil at a decent price,and just use the OPEC oil for exporting only

      The oil companies want to drill offshore and in the US.Everyone is ripping us off.......don't just blame the oil companies.
      When Big Oil wanted the Alaskan Pipeline built and they lobbyed hard until they got it.The oil that was sent through the pipeline was not used in the US,for the most part it went to the Asian countries like Japan and China.
      Even if the oil companies discover billions of barrels of oil right here in the US,how are they going to refine it ?The Democratic Liberal Environmentalists are blocking every effort to relieve the current oil crisis by not allowing Refineries to

      meggawhats 10:49:20 PM Jun 22 2008

      Report This!

      The oil companies want to drill offshore and in the US.Everyone is ripping us off.......don't just blame the oil companies.
      When Big Oil wanted the Alaskan Pipeline built and they lobbyed hard until they got it.The oil that was sent through the pipeline was not used in the US,for the most part it went to the Asian countries like Japan and China.
      Even if the oil companies discover billions of barrels of oil right here in the US,how are they going to refine it ?The Democratic Liberal Environmentalists are blocking every effort to relieve the current oil crisis by not allowing Refineries to be built,Nuclear Power Plants,Clean Coal and just about everything else you can think of.
      Don't blame the Oil Companies,blame the idiots that vote for these crazy and sick environmentalists who are destroying this country.
      What about the US government and the states. You only hear about the taxes you see on the pump,about 60 cents on avarage going to the government and the states.What you don't see is

      meggawhats 10:47:49 PM Jun 22 2008

      Report This!

      Posted By: luweegee3 07:00:53 PM Jun 22 2008

      We are getting ripped off right in front of our eyes with the oil companies arent we?? Lets ask some oil exec this question,,,,,Why is the united states oil companies selling oil to the american people by the OPEC world market price of oil? Dont we have our own oil ? and cant we sell our oil at a decent price,and just use the OPEC oil for exporting only

      The oil companies want to drill offshore and in the US.Everyone is ripping us off.......don't just blame the oil companies.
      When Big Oil wanted the Alaskan Pipeline built and they lobbyed hard until they got it.The oil that was sent through the pipeline was not used in the US,for the most part it went to the Asian countries like Japan and China.
      Even if the oil companies discover billions of barrels of oil right here in the US,how are they going to refine it ?The Democratic Liberal Environmentalists are blocking every effort to relieve the current oil crisis by not allowing Refineries to

      luweegee3 07:00:53 PM Jun 22 2008

      Report This!

      We are getting ripped off right in front of our eyes with the oil companies arent we?? Lets ask some oil exec this question,,,,,Why is the united states oil companies selling oil to the american people by the OPEC world market price of oil? Dont we have our own oil ? and cant we sell our oil at a decent price,and just use the OPEC oil for exporting only

      mphalc24 04:39:40 PM Jun 22 2008

      Report This!

      How many times has AOL used this image of a masked burglar looking in a mail box? Too many! C'mon, freshen up a bit AOL and give us some real, substantive news rather than a tired rehash of the same old, same old!! We're sick of the same articles, again and again, with only a bit of a tweak, so that AOL news people don't have to work.

      whips4less 03:00:41 PM Jun 22 2008

      Report This!

      The whole system sucks.....Criminal, civil and/or family courts are a joke and if you don't have OJ money, you won't get nothing done. Look this up and you'll feel better LIEFREEZONE.COM

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