Financial Officers BEWARE, cybercriminals are coming for you too !

Just when you thought it was safe to enter the office email waters (yaya, last week was shark week) cybercrime is headed your way. We have warned on a personal basis, here, here and here  of the trial and tribulations of cybercriminals … apparently they have been successful and are moving on to bigger fish.

Criminals Pose as Senior Executives

In this recent CFO.com article, reports of very similar email hacking into corporations that we have been warning against (links above) for individuals for some time.

• Hacking an email account of an employee, buyer, or someone in the money receipt/payment area
• Requesting an urgent quick need for payment of funds
• Unable to talk in person as this time
• New Bank Account Number for processing — WARNING WARNING WARNING

This is so close to what the criminals have been doing on an individual level it is amazing. It seems their success with individuals has emboldened them to go for bigger fish.

This from the CFO article:

“The average loss per victim is $55,000, but in some cases losses have exceeded $800,000, according to IC3 …”

YIKES … This is a much bigger take than we have been in contact with on an individual level.

Either as individuals or executives, let’s all be careful and try to stop this. The greater success they have, the more they will try.

Have a Great Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP