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I have a background in IT, though not in fraud prevention, and have just been round to a friend who has been the victim of a very sophisticated scam to try to help her.

She received a WhatsApp message purporting to come from a family member (but apparently the same thing is happening with messages purporting to come from close friends) saying that the family member's phone had been damaged and so she couldn't make a payment which had to be made by the end of the month from the online banking app, so would my friend make it and it would get paid back within the week. The message was VERY convincing, even using a family nickname, and took the form of an online conversation, with convincing responses to questions. A fully authenticated bank account in the UK was provided to receive the payment.

I had a similar situation with my small shop, and what helped a lot was using an sms api to quickly let regulars know about specials or last-minute changes. It’s especially useful if people opt in when they visit or book. Cuts down on waiting for them to check emails or websites, and makes things feel more personal too.