Construction Success Story — One contractor's fight with corporate identity theft
A roofing contractor based in a highly competitive suburban market noticed that his Web site traffic had slowed considerably. He was confused because the site had been bringing in a considerable amount of business for a couple of years.
He mentioned the online slowdown to his financial advisor while meeting about business improvement strategies. The advisor was immediately suspicious and launched an investigation. Specifically, he performed Internet searches for the company's name on several popular search engines. Sure enough, Web sites other than the contractor's frequently showed up in the results.
Now, in and of itself, this didn't necessarily indicate any wrongdoing. But when he followed one of the links, the two were shocked to discover another company using the contractor's very name and logo! The other business, a recent startup, had committed corporate identity theft and was siphoning off potential customers.
In this contractor's case, once the problem was discovered, he got his attorney involved and was easily put a stop to it. He and his financial advisor then resolved to regularly conduct Web searches using key words that match and closely resemble his company's name.
Again, another business coming up in a search may not be a problem. That's why it's critical to follow up on as many of the links as possible to ensure your company's identity isn't being misused.
Identity thieves are out there and they seem to be getting bolder and bolder. Learn from this contractor's lesson and keep a close watch on your company's identity - especially online!
