November is the month of increased travel – both business leisure – which is wonderful for our sector.
I do not want to put a dampener on the growing festive spirit as we head into the year-end holiday period, but I do want to remind you that vigilance is the order of the day. Particularly when the chance of getting caught is almost zero, consequences are seemingly not a deterrent, and there is a general element of disregard for the law.
Be cautious of electronic transactions, verify bank accounts, and make sure you have copies of ID, passports – you name it.
In the past 12 months, I’ve been caught by a generator scammer to the tune of R27 000. I paid for a ‘new generator’ from a company that I thought was legit. I did my due diligence; I checked out their website an online credentials, but it turns out that they were good fakes.
Someone added on an ‘s’ to our domain, intercepted the emails between our accountant and member of our staff – and boof – more money was lost.
We were caught napping.
So that’s my message for November. Keep a look out.
All the best
Richard
Regards, Richard Lendrum & the GHASA team
