E-mail scam costs businesses over USD 1 bln

The FBI calls this family of scams Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams, because they use phony e-mails that appear to come from a colleague or from a trusted supplier. Since October 2013, BEC scams have cost businesses around the world over USD 1.2 billion.

Although the BEC scam has victimized businesses in 80 countries, those in the US have suffered the most. 7000 US businesses have reported USD 747 million in losses, with an average loss of USD 130,000.

The scammers, who appear to be members of organized crime groups operating out of Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East, are targeting businesses that work with overseas suppliers or regularly make wire transfer payments. But instead of sending funds to legitimate suppliers, the money transfers end up in bank accounts controlled by the fraudsters, mostly with banks based in China.

The scammers succeed by compromising legitimate email accounts through social engineering or malware that steals account credentials. The fraudsters then use access to e-mail accounts to gather intelligence such as information about billing and invoices that wont raise the suspicion of employees who send transfer payments.