A story of email fraud
We received an email from an existing client authorizing a payment by wire to one of their vendors and including wire instructions. The wire request was for a large amount, but not out of the ordinary for that organization ($1.4 million). The body of the emailed wire request showed a trail of emails below it, showing the conversation between our client and the vendor about a project they were working on. We recognized the other employees of our client’s business in the email conversation and we recognized the project they were working on.
As is protocol for wire payments, we called the client to confirm the wire, using the phone number that we have on file for our client. Come to find out, the client did not authorize this wire payment, knew nothing about it.
Upon investigation, we discovered that our client did not actually send that email to us. The sender’s email address was very similar to our client’s email address; the only difference was that the criminal had added one letter to the domain name. It was barely noticeable.
Furthermore, they had tapped into this business’ secure email account. They were able to determine our email account as the appropriate recipient to send wire requests. And they were able to access actual email conversations with real employee names, email addresses, and the valid project names, which they used to forward to us to add credibility to the request.
From this story, you can see the extents that criminals go to commit email fraud, also known as Business Email Compromise (BEC).
What can you do about email fraud?
Of course, having proper security in place to help prevent security breaches in the first place is important to prevent becoming a victim of email fraud. Further, having systems and procedures in place to confirm wire payments is essential, if a security breach does occur. It’s important to take a holistic approach at the situation and ensure you’re as well protected from email fraud as possible.
W’d love to offer you an accounting system review to see where there may be cracks in your accounting system that could be exposing you to potential fraud in your organization. You can schedule an appointment here.
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