In addition to leading innovation at SpotOn, I also run two restaurants. Lately, my inbox looks different.
Every day, I get loan offers. Sometimes one or two. Sometimes a lot more. And not just to one business, but to each location. Different lenders, different names, same message: fast cash, low rates, easy approval.
Some of them are clever. They use familiar language. In some cases, they even mention SpotOn in a way that makes it sound like they're associated with our company.
That's when it really clicked for me. This isn't just noise. This is fraud against an industry I love, and it's doing real damage.
Why this is happening right now
Restaurants have always needed capital. What has changed is how aggressively bad actors are exploiting that need.
Email, text, calls — they're coming from every direction. And in that flood, it's genuinely hard to tell what's legitimate and what could put your business at serious risk. I've looked at a lot of these offers. In my experience, the vast majority aren't real lenders at all. They're phishing attempts designed to get your sensitive information: bank account details, business information, login credentials.
Their goal isn't to lend you money. Their goal is to take it.
What to look for
When the next offer hits your inbox — and it will — here's how to spot a scam before you engage:
- The rate sounds too good to be true. If you're seeing anything under 10%, be very skeptical. Legitimate lenders operate in the real world. Predatory offers use unrealistic numbers to get your attention and lower your guard.
- The same offer is coming from multiple different senders. If you're getting nearly identical pitches from different "companies," that's a major red flag. Real lenders don't operate that way. Scam operations do.
- The grammar is off. Read the email carefully. Typos, awkward phrasing, and sentences that don't quite make sense are common signs of a fraudulent message. Legitimate financial institutions proofread.
- The email address doesn't match a real business. Don't just look at the sender name — look at the actual email domain. Then ask: does this business have a real website? Does that website look legitimate? A quick Google search for the company name plus "scam" or "complaints" can tell you a lot.
- There's no opt-out. This one is simple: legitimate commercial emails are required by law to include an unsubscribe option. If there isn't one, that alone tells you something important about who you're dealing with.
- Don't share anything until you're certain. No bank details. No business information. No login credentials. Once that information is out there, it's very hard to undo the damage.
Why this matters so much to me
This is personal. Not just because I co-founded SpotOn, but because I deal with the same predatory nonsense as any other operator.
Here's what I want to be clear about: legitimate access to capital is one of the most important lifelines available to restaurant owners. A well-structured loan at the right moment can mean the difference between weathering a slow season, making a critical equipment upgrade, or missing that window entirely. Good lenders exist. They do real underwriting, meaning they actually look at your business before making an offer. They present terms clearly, upfront, so you know exactly what repayment looks like before you sign anything. They don't bury fees in the fine print or structure payments in ways that squeeze you during your slowest weeks.
That's the standard we built SpotOn Capital around. We launched it because restaurant owners were telling us that access to capital was one of their biggest challenges. And that far too often, the options available to them weren't built with their business in mind. With SpotOn Capital, we already know your business. We see your sales. That means we can offer financing based on how you actually perform, with repayment that works with your cash flow rather than against it. Clear terms, no surprises, and a team that understands what it takes to run a restaurant.
The problem isn't that capital is bad. The problem is that right now, the noise from scammers is so loud and so sophisticated that it's drowning out the options worth considering. Learning to filter out the scams isn't just about protecting yourself from fraud. It's about being able to see clearly when a real opportunity is in front of you.
Final thought
Access to capital matters. But the wrong move — clicking a link, sharing your information, engaging with the wrong offer — can put your business at serious risk before any money ever changes hands.
Slow down. Read carefully. Google the sender. And when something feels off, trust that instinct.
