The company transfers large sums of money to the specified bank account several times. Until suddenly the business partner complains about unpaid invoices. The company is only now checking the exact circumstances. The email supposedly sent by the partner was fake. The fraudsters faked the identity of the business partner. The fraudsters knew all the details of the previous business relationship.

How was that possible?

The perpetrators gained access to the email inbox of a company employee. They were able to read the messages for several weeks and send the fake email at the right moment. In total, the deceived company transferred more than one million euros to the wrong account.

The managing director reacted correctly: He immediately contacted his company's commercial bank and then the cybercrime hotline set up by the Baden-Württemberg State Criminal Police Office (LKA BW) of the Central Cybercrime Contact Point (ZAC) for companies in Baden-Württemberg. The LKA BW is investigating and trying to secure funds in the perpetrators' accounts.

Fraud cases like this are known to the police's cyber specialists

Email fraud is a lucrative field. The perpetrators are very creative and use various ways to deceive small and large companies and institutions with fake emails. The LKA BW explains the most common variants and recommends concrete countermeasures. In particular, every message received by your institution informing you of the allegedly changed bank details of your business partners should provide an opportunity to confirm the new bank details by telephone.

Even when invoices with high claims are received, the police recommend checking the bank details provided by telephone, even for long-standing business partners. To do this, use your contacts' own address directory.

Source: Baden-Württemberg State Criminal Police Office

Also read: Beware of fraudulent emails in companies


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