PINDROP BLOG U.S. FIRM HIT FOR NEARLY $100M IN EMAIL SCAM Pindrop Blog U.S. Firm Hit For Nearly $100M in Email Scam Fraudsters employing an increasingly common scheme known as business email compromise victimized a United States company for more than $98 million, according to a suit filed by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan Thursday. The civil forfeiture lawsuit is an attempt to recover $25 million in funds held in a variety of overseas accounts, money that the federal government says was stolen from an unnamed U.S. company. The scam, run over the course of several months last year, followed what has become a familiar pattern of late. Posing as the representatives of a vendor used by the target company, the fraudsters set up fake email addresses that mimicked the vendor’s, and began communicating with a third party that handles vendor payments. Over the course of several months, the criminals were able to fool the third party company into transferring nearly $100 million to an account at Eurobank Cyprus. The money then was split up and transferred into accounts in banks around the world, including in Latvia, Hungary, Hong Kong and elsewhere. Officials at Eurobank Cyprus realized quickly that something had gone wrong, and worked with law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and Cyprus to find and recover about $74 million of the stolen money. It’s the other $25 million that the U.S. Attorney is now trying to recover. “Criminals can be resourceful and unrelenting in their efforts to scam innocent victims out of money. Here, the alleged perpetrators – through a fake email address and by impersonating a legitimate vendor – almost got away with $100 million. Thanks to the timely actions of law enforcement here and abroad, as well as by Eurobank in Cyprus, where the stolen funds were first sent, $74 million has already been returned to the victim company. With this civil forfeiture action, we seek to return the rest,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. This fraud would represent one of the larger known cases of business email compromise, a term that’s used to describe a broad range of schemes. The scams typically involve fraudsters using a spoofed email to target employees of a given company who have authority over finances. They often will impersonate a high-ranking executive and order the employee to transfer money to an outside account right away. The Manhattan case is somewhat unusual in that the attackers went after a third party vendor used by the actual victim company. “Using this fake email address, the perpetrators then communicated with an email account maintained for the purpose of allowing vendors to communicate with the Professional Services Company on behalf of the Victim Company. Through those email communications, the perpetrators of the scheme convinced the Professional Services Company to change the designated bank account to which the Victim Company would make recurring payments to the Vendor for services rendered,” the U.S. Attorney’s office said. “As a result, payments from the Victim Company meant for the Vendor were transferred to an account under the control of the perpetrators of this scheme rather than an account actually affiliated with the Vendor.” The scheme involved 16 separate payments to the attackers’ account, totaling $98,879,545.80. The U.S. Attorney’s office did not identify the victim company, but said it’s an American firm that does business all over the world. The stolen funds are being held in at least 20 accounts right now
JPMORGAN CHASE BANK & CO. U.S.A. 214 Broadway, New York, NY 10038, United States. Unclaimed Asset/Assets Re-united, USA International Remittance Department Tel: +1 (650) 300-8647 Fax: +1 (646) 805-9453 Our Ref: JPMCB/CTB/6x780/19. URGENT TRANSFER OF YOUR US$4,500,000.00 Attention Beneficiary In fight against corruption in the Banking system and in pursuit to re-build a good relationship with foreigners by the President of the United States of America. We wish to inform you that every files and reports concerning international payment of all the foreign beneficiaries was brought to my office in the Order and instruction of the U.S Department of States and U.S Department of Treasury. I must confess that i shared tears after seeing your unclaimed and uncompleted transactions, It was a national slap and a disgrace to this Country after noticing that your have paid for all the fee to receive your fund but your funds never got to your bank account because of the selfish interest of the banks and Individuals mandated to transfer and release your fund to your bank account. The U.S Department of States and U.S Department of Treasury has approved a compensation payment of US$4,500,000.00 in your name which shall be transfer to your bank account through an online, We will create an online bank in your name and you will transfer your fund by yourself through our online to your bank account. We chose to transfer your fund through an online banking so that no Agency will notice or stop your fund. Sir, you shall receive this compensation fund within 3 working day, if you comply with our instructions and adhere to our directives. Get back to us with your information as listed below. Your Full Name: Address: Phone number: Age and Occupation: Next of Kin: Scan Copy of your identification Thank you for your mutual understanding and cooperation as we wait to read from you soonest Yours Faithfully, Dr. Harold Williams Tel: +1 (650) 300-8647 Foreign Remittance Department