FIUTT: Over $2.5m stolen by cybercriminals in recent past

Over $2.5 million in foreign currency has recently been stolen by cyber criminals who send deceptive e-mails followed by wire transfer instructions.

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIUTT) said in a press release today that they noticed the increase in cases of individuals falling prey to such e-mail deception and fraud.

“Financial institutions (in particular commercial banks), listed businesses and members of the general public are asked to exercise extreme caution when handling email payment instructions for business transactions and large value personal foreign currency transactions,” said FIUTT in the release.

Such online schemes employed by criminals involve the manipulative practices which encourage people to “unknowingly instal malware onto their computers.” Attackers try to gain access to computers or any other electronic devices with the hope of compromising and stealing personal and sensitive information including online account login credentials.

People often link their online accounts to bank accounts or to other sources of finance, and such accounts may be accessed by hackers and funds stolen.

“FIUTT advises that once online attackers obtain access to the account, they can then monitor e-mails, intercepting those that contain an invoice or payment instructions to a financial institution. Criminals can now change the payment instructions on a specific invoice or planned wire transfer transaction. This allows the transaction to be processed with the funds going to a bank account of a cybercriminal group instead of the intended and legitimate beneficiary.”

FIUTT is calling on the public to scrutinise documents, do enhanced due diligence for suspicious instructions and verify information in e-mails by phone before sending any money.

The public is also encouraged to report to FIUTT any suspicious transactions or activities involving financial institutions and businesses and
report any suspicious e-mail payment instructions to the police Fraud Squad.