“BBL” Bounce Back Loan scam targeting UK Businesses

On July 10th 2020, Stephen Bogan from James Glen Car Sales in Scotland took to his Facebook account to warn business owners of a new type of scam that had targeted his company.

Soon enough, his warning went viral across social media, giving countless social media users and business owners a thankful heads up as to what to expect should they find themselves targeted. The scam is the Bounce Back Loan scam, and this is how it works.

Firstly, what is a Bounce Back Loan?

The Bounce Back Loan is a genuine type of loan offered to businesses in the UK allowing them to easily access loans amid the coronavirus outbreak. The GOV UK website describes it as such –

The scheme helps small and medium-sized businesses to borrow between £2,000 and up to 25% of their turnover. The maximum loan available is £50,000.
The government guarantees 100% of the loan and there won’t be any fees or interest to pay for the first 12 months. After 12 months the interest rate will be 2.5% a year.

However, scammers are taking advantage of this government scheme by applying for such loans on behalf of legitimate UK businesses without the knowledge or permission from that business.

Because the business owners are not aware that the money arriving in their bank account is a government loan, the scammers will claim the money actually came from them in order to purchase something from the business. The aim of the scam is to trick the business into handing over something of value to a scammer, without the business realising that the money used to pay for it actually came from a government loan (that they’d ultimately have to pay back) and not the scammer.

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Essentially, it means the business is paying for an item themselves, but handing over the item to a scammer.

Stephan Bogan, whose company was targeted by such a scam, claims in his viral video that the scheme begins when they are contacted by someone (who turns out to be the scammer) who wants to purchase a high value item and pay for it in full. In this case that is a sports car. Bogan’s company, James Glen Car Sales, sends out an invoice to that person with the company bank details on.

The scammer uses the details on the invoice – as well as other details they have obtained through other means (Bogan claims the scammer had found out his date of birth) – to apply for a government Bounce Back Loan on behalf of Bogan’s company.

But instead of trying to trick the UK government into handing over the money to a bank account controlled by the scammer, the money actually goes into the bank account of the business. However, since the business has no knowledge of the loan, they believe it is from the scammer, paying for (in this case) the sports car.

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The scammer claims they work for a company called BBL Ltd. This is to prevent the business becoming suspicious of the money coming in to their account which is sent using the acronym BBL (which of course stands for Bounce Bank Loan.)

And when the company sends out the high value item to the crook, it will only be later will they realise that the money that landed in their bank account was actually a loan created under their name that they’d ultimately have to pay back. By which time the scammer has fled with their “purchase”.

Luckily for Bogan, a little due diligence (a call to their bank) revealed the nature of the scam and they didn’t send out the sports car.

Police have reported that two men have already been arrested over the scheme, though it is unclear whether it was these men that targeted Bogan’s company.

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How to avoid this scam?

– As Bogan correctly points out, businesses should be sceptical of people who insist on purchasing high value items in full, when a deposit would usually be the norm.

– Additionally, be wary of people who don’t show the typical level of interest a customer usually shows in an item, and seems to be trying to make the purchase happen as fast as possible. (Bogan points out in his video that the scammer only asked about the state of the car’s tyres.)

– If a payment seems suspicious, call your bank. This is how Bogan prevented his company from falling victim to this scam. Ask your bank if there is anything suspicious or abnormal about a payment.

– If a payment is made from BBL (or similar) then you could be being targeted by the scam scam. However other type of loan schemes could also be used to orchestrate this scam, so make sure the money has not come from a loan company or scheme.

– Don’t feel pressured into handing out high value items quickly. Always do your due diligence, ask your bank or contact the police if you think you may be the potential victim of a scammer.