Beware of Wire Fraud

Wire Fraud has quickly become one of the most popular ways for cybercriminals to steal money from your business. It’s quick. It’s effective. It’s virtually untraceable.

If a vendor emailed you asking for immediate payment through a wire transfer, due to some unforeseen circumstance, you’d probably do so without much question. The email looks normal, it’s signed by the correct person, you have a great relationship with them, nothing could be wrong, right?

That’s exactly what a cybercriminal would want you to think.

Business Email Compromise is an advanced form of spear-phishing which targets employees of businesses that routinely perform wire transfer payments or work with foreign companies or suppliers. This form of cybercrime is steadily on the rise, and companies are losing thousands, even millions of dollars instantly because of a spoofed or compromised email address.

Business Email Compromise is an advanced form of spear-phishing which targets employees of businesses that routinely perform wire transfer payments or work with foreign companies or suppliers. This form of cybercrime is steadily on the rise, and companies are losing thousands, even millions of dollars instantly because of a spoofed or compromised email address.

How it Happens:

The scammers target the email accounts of business executives or high-level employees. Either they will gain actual access to those individuals’ email accounts through a targeted phishing attack and wait for the perfect time to take over such as when those employees go on vacation or leave for a business trip, or they will simply spoof the email address and change where the email is sent when it is replied to. This is called header manipulation. Then, they will email an employee within an organization who may be responsible for making wire transfers or handling funds, asking them to process a transaction.

Here are some things to look at when you receive any requests to transfer or wire funds:

• Look closely to verify the email address when you receive a wire transfer or monetary transaction request. Check for any spelling errors or missing letters.
• Call the person who is requesting the transfer directly to verify that the request is legitimate, or follow your corporate verification procedures carefully.
• If you think a request is suspicious in any way, trust your instincts and inform management or IT immediately.
• Look at the real email address before replying to the message.

To prevent YOUR email from being the one that is compromised:

• Never provide your security or account credentials to anyone.
• Do not click on any links or open attachments in emails you receive, unless you are absolutely positive they are safe and from a legitimate sender.

It is best to have a wire transfer process in place that requires more than just an email request. Either a phone call, face-to-face, or multi-person process is best.