CFOs and Bookkeepers, Beware of This Scam

The rise of cybercrime continues giving companies and governments worldwide sleepless nights. As time passes, cybercriminals are getting more sophisticated. Moreover, their improved ways of scamming businesses are becoming more challenging to detect. For instance, their latest tricks look less suspicious and harmless to an average person.

It seems they are taking their fraudulent schemes to higher levels by no longer targeting lower-end business employees. Instead, they have brought the battle to the doorsteps of key business officials, such as CFOs and bookkeepers. Why?

Because they know these three are gatekeepers to a business’s finances. Therefore, this post exposes one of their latest tricks targeting unsuspecting bookkeepers and CFOs. Eventually, you should be able to discern this scam and avoid its dragnet.

A Top-Bottom Approach

So, how do these confidence tricksters prey on innocent CFOs? These scammers have developed a straightforward method. They simply spoof a CEO’s email address and use it to send emails to CFOs.

For example, they can write and instruct them to transfer $300,000 to a given company account to complete a certain transaction.” If the CFO is unsuspecting, they could easily assume the CEO emailed them and transfer the cash.

Unknowingly, they will have passed the money into the wrong hands. This trick works well because they
know all employees respect their seniors, especially at CEO levels.

So, How Do You Protect Yourself?

So, how can companies and financial gatekeepers keep off this trap? Do you need to install the latest and more sophisticated software? In no case! You only need to be more careful and take care of your business
processes. Here are some practical ways of proofing yourself and business against such scams:

• Confirm before sending
  If you are a CFO or bookkeeper, always confirm with your CEO or any other authority before sending any money. The safest way is to call them first. You should also take it higher by meeting the senior company executive to verify the email from them in person.
• Flag all suspicious emails
  If you notice an email whose reply address differs from the one appearing in your mail client, you should flag it for a possible scam. Also, flag any email with an extension of a company email domain name. This way, it will be easier to detect suspicious emails and eradicate them.
• Stick to company policies
  If your company has a policy that forbids requesting of money transfer via email, just stick to them.
• Contact involved banks
  Lastly, if the unfortunate finally happens, then follow what the US Chamber of Commerce recommends. You need to contact the banks involved in the funds’ transfer immediately to intervene before the money lands into the scammers’ hands.

Takeaway

Such a move can save your company losses because most of the money lost through this scam is never recovered. So, act immediately!

Hopefully, now you have your eyes open and can take the necessary precautions to avoid the trap.