It was reported to the police by an official of a Limassol-based company that, during the months of May and June, she received in her official e-mail, four messages which appeared to have been sent by one of the owners of the company and to which were attached a total of four invoices with instructions for payment by remittances to specific bank accounts in foreign countries.
The official proceeded to make payments of the four invoices, for the amounts of 45 thousand, 49 thousand, 63 thousand and 144 thousand euros respectively, by four transfers from the company's bank account to the bank accounts indicated in the messages she had received in her official e-mail.
Last Wednesday, 29 June, the official received a suspicious message in her official e-mail and, suspecting that there may have been interference with her e-mail, she informed the owner of the company, who confirmed that he had never sent her the e-mails in question, nor had he instructed her to pay the attached invoices.
A subsequent check revealed that the suspicious messages had been sent from an e-mail account similar to the e-mail of the owner of the company, with a difference of only one digit in the name of the address of the account, so that the difference was not immediately apparent to the recipient of the messages.
The company immediately informed the bank through which the four transfers were made and succeeded in withdrawing the last transfer of EUR 144,000, which was returned to the company, but the other three transfers had already proceeded. The respective Banks abroad were informed about their revocation, without achieving the revocation of the remittances so far.
The case is being investigated by the Limassol CID.
On the occasion of this new incident of online fraud, the Police again recommends special attention to the general public and especially to owners and staff of companies that manage funds and payments via the Internet or after similar online communication with partners, suppliers or buyers.
This type of electronic fraud, known as Invoice Fraud, is particularly widespread and mainly concerns businesses dealing with other companies located in foreign countries. In addition to email, the business can be approached by other forms of communication, such as by telephone or even by letter.
To protect yourself from this form of fraud, inform your staff and implement a procedure to verify the legitimacy of the payment requests you receive.
Before making any invoice payments, speak with your supplier or business partner by phone, without using the contact information listed in the suspicious message, and confirm that the message is from actual suppliers or business partners.
If you spot any suspected attempted fraud, report it immediately to the police, even if you have not made the payment.
More advice on this form of fraud can be found at the online link:
https:/cyberalert.cy/tips/apates-mesw-diadiktuou/apath-mesw-timologiwn-kai-loipwn-parastatikwn_55/
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