In addition, average losses so far in 2021 are more than five times higher compared with average losses in the same period last year.

Payment redirection scams can take several different forms:

• Scammers use a staff member’s email address to send an invoice to a customer with “updated bank details”, redirecting the payment to the scammer’s personal bank account.
• Payment redirection can be done by spoofing when scammers impersonate CEOs or other senior managers using a registered email address that is very similar to that of the genuine email address. The scammer will then request that staff transfer funds to them or make a payment to a third party on behalf of the business.
• Scammers pose as staff members, where they request the employee’s salary be paid into the scammer’s bank account.
• Scammers pose as the president or treasurer and request staff to action payments for “equipment” or other business needs, but the money goes straight into the scammer’s bank account.

How to present payment redirection scams:

• Ensure your staff are well trained in the company’s payment processes and remain aware of payment redirection scams
• Don’t deviate from your organisation’s payment procedure, even if the request you have received appears to come from your CEO or a senior manager
• Take the time to consider and check whether an email is real, including by looking carefully at the sender’s email address, before acting on instructions
• Whenever there is a request to change payment details, always check with the organisation using stored contact details, rather than those in the requesting communication
• If someone has been the victim of a scam, contact your bank as soon as possible and contact the platform on which you were scammed to inform them of the circumstances

 

Source: Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC)

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