The High Court has closed down two businesses this month after it was found that they submitted false documents to at least 41 local authorities and the government’s bounce back loan (BBL) scheme to secure £230,000 worth of emergency support.

LV Distributions and SIO Traders were investigated by the Insolvency Service, which proved that neither company had ever actually traded.

One of the two had been claiming to supply personal protective equipment while the other had claimed to sell medical care products.

The Government has warned that it will be cracking down on Covid fraud and in June the Public Accounts Committee of MPs, for the department for business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS), that suspected Covid-related fraud amounted to £27bn.

It has been argued that some of this loss could be attributed to a failure to carry out basic checks and controls in the rush to get funding out to struggling businesses.

The message is clear.

Businesses need to make...

Last week one of my blogs highlighted the growth opportunities to businesses of adopting new technology post-pandemic.

However, businesses, like consumers, can also be vulnerable if you do not take steps to understand and control the adoption and use of software and technology in your company.

Already, reports have emerged of new scams specifically related to Coronavirus. They have resulted in consumers being promised delivery of products for which they have paid but which subsequently discover do not to exist.

Then, there have been the scams to remote workers related to fake contacts from alleged payroll departments and internet service providers asking for personal information, according to TSB Bank.

But in a business context, while digital technology has been embraced to make it easy to continue to work during the pandemic lockdown, in the future how and what technology is used needs to be carefully considered and integrated with business processes going forward.

The temptation...