How vigilance and the Deycom Support Team Stopped a Crafty Email Scam
As we often advise, scammers will sometimes use a free email account to impersonate the owner of a business and they will contact somebody in the financial team with a message like this:
Hi,
I need to make an urgent payment to a supplier to close an important deal I have been working on, can you get back to me ASAP with whatever you need from me to make the payment.
Thanks,
The owners name.
Now you might think this is obvious, but in the same way that mistakes can happen, so too can employees be tricked into replying to these emails.
Recently we witnessed a discerning member of an accounts team received what appeared to be a routine request from one of their company’s owners, instructing them to transfer funds to a UK-based account, however, the email they received was spoofed.
A spoofed email is typically disguised to look like it’s coming from a trustworthy source, perhaps someone you know, like a colleague, boss, or a reputable institution. These emails aim to trick you into divulging sensitive information, to click on a malicious links, or in this case, to transfer money to a fraudulent account.
Even through our client had replied to the spoofed email they received, the also thankfully checked with our support team to see if the email was legitimate. Once we inspected the email we quickly determined that the message was spoofed and we advised our client not to engage any further with the sender.
It is worth noting that even with the best security measures in place, there is always a risk that a rogue email similar to this one will make it though and your last line of defence is individual employees.
We advise every business to have procedures in place to check any email that relates to a financial transaction and if you have any doubts about the legitimacy of an email please contact our support team, we would prefer that you ask us the question rather than getting caught out.
If you need any further assistance on any aspect of cyber security, please contact Deycom on 059 9130777 or you can email info@deycom.com