Our Fraud Experts Are Always Available For Advice
There was a time when most cybercrime players, including digital fraud and phishing actors, focused their targets on unsuspecting consumers and their personal credit card accounts and data. It didn’t take long for cyber criminals to add business accounts to their list of targets, and with that, fraud and phishing schemes have taken on a new dynamic.
And the results, so far, are alarming.
Let’s begin with the basics. The following are a few representations of email fraud you should watch for:
Target email systems to fool employees into making payments to fraudulent accounts. This is called Spear Phishing.
Criminals obtain information needed to build profiles of executives, usually the CFO or another person charged with managing the financial duties within the company.
The fraudster targets previous emails sent by the targeted executive to ensure their fraudulent emails appear authentic and then sends their email request when the executive is out of the office, making it difficult to verify.
Email typically includes language suggesting the transaction is confidential and time sensitive. Be alert for slight variances in the sender’s email address and their use of language or salutations. If it’s not typically the way the sender writes or communicates in regard to names, greeting and instructions, be careful.
This false sense of urgency prompts the employee to act quickly and prevents them from validating the information. Because these emails resemble previous emails sent by the CFO, the employee is tricked into making the payment, sending the wire, or fulfilling other requests.
Another form of email fraud involves account number charges related to payroll. Never change routing and account number information for your employees without first verbally verifying the information with them. The same type of email fraud has been used to fraudulently divert payroll into fraudsters’ accounts as well.
Identity theft, fraud, phishing and cyber crimes are growing in frequency and in scale. We all need to be proactive in the care we take at protecting our personal information and data. However, it’s very difficult to accomplish this without the help of experts in this field. Feel free to contact us with questions, or if you believe something suspicious is occurring with your accounts, email requests, or credit card transactions.
For further information, the Federal Trade Commission has an excellent article on scammers and how you can protect your business from them.