Consumers should be 'suspicious' when looking for businesses online and make use of a set of criteria to check that they are legitimate, says an IT security expert.

Bert McClure, founder of homeworking consultancy The Home Business Executive, claimed that many people who wish to start an online business fail to understand what that means in practice, leading to illegitimate companies ending up online.

"In almost all cases you actually have to work legitimate online businesses using the tools of internet marketing," he added.

"This involves a knowledge of Search Engine Optimisation for your website, articles and press releases."

Mr McClure went on to say that consumers should not just read testimonials to verify a business as these can easily be fabricated.

Research conducted by email management consultancy Mesmo last week found that UK companies are not training their employees to use email effectively, with 92 per cent of 130 personal assistants questioned saying that neither they nor their managers had been offered any form of email training.


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