Recently, the Federal Trade Commission warned small business owners about scammers and how detrimental they can be to their success. It has been common lately for these businesses to be contacted through Facebook and Facebook messenger. Usually, the messages state that these business owners have been approved or even awarded with a grant.

Now, it seems like most people would realize that this is in fact just a scam and that the government would not contact you via Facebook to award you with a grant for your business. However, the way that these people have been successfully scamming business owners is due to the fact that they are being shown as coming from a “friend.” Because of this, it seems that the message may in fact be the real deal. Unfortunately, it is not the case. If the scammer is successful, they will most likely not stop contacting you over and over again.

It is important to know what to do if faced with this dilemma. The Federal Trade Commission suggests that if you are a small business owner, that you should not only protect yourself from these scammers but to also warn your employees about this type of scam. They also say that if you see one of these government grant scams that it is important to report it to the FTC.

Remember that if you receive a scam message offering you a grant that the government will never contact you through your social media, you would never be required to pay first if it was a legitimate grant offer, they will only be asking for your passwords in order to hack your accounts, and finally if the only way you are able to communicate with the person offering you a grant is through social media, it is in fact a scam.

Are you a small business owner? Have any of you been targeted by a scammer with a government grant scam? Let us know any of your experiences with a scammer or imposter online in the comments below!