IT was good to hear the news about Nissan last week. However, within the Tees Valley there is still uncertainty about steel and chemical industries.

It is an unfortunate fact that at this time when business owners are trying to focus on the future, instances of fraud increase. I have heard, with some frustration, about two of the latest scams which seem to be becoming more prevalent and about which I thought, via this column, I should warn you.

The first involved an online postal re-direction request for a director’s personal mail. The fraudster then placed a request for the bank to send new/ replacement cards/pin numbers. Luckily, the Post Office sent a letter to the original house advising of the re-direction, so provided you are not on holiday you should be able to spot this.

The second scam saw a faxed request to the bank with a forged director’s signature asking them to transfer money from the business account to the fraudster’s bank account (in one of the instances I’ve heard, the bank transferred in excess of £100,000, which the bank has now reimbursed).

Fraudsters are able to obtain a copy of the director’s signature from public documents. These include the annual return or company accounts, which are submitted to Companies House. For a charity (you would think they would be spared these problems given the help they give the communities) the same problem applies to the accounts filed with Charities Commission.

One way of avoiding this problem is to agree with the bank that the signature that will be used for requests like these differs from the directors/ trustees usual signature. As a further protection mechanism, the Companies Act 2006 allows directors to file a service address, which can be different from their residential address. I urge you all to stay vigilant, make regular checks of your banking records and protect your identifying information.

On a more positive note, I completed the Lyke Wake Walk on Saturday with my father and brother in aid of Young Enterprise North East. As a charity, it helps youngsters gain an insight into the world of business. The young people follow a structured programme, whereby they set up and run a company during the course of the academic year. These youngsters of the region are our future so let’s invest.

■ Chris Beaumont is Tees Valley committee chairman with the North-East Chamber of Commerce.