If you pay a debt to the wrong account because of a fraud you
could well be required to pay twice.
In the past three years losses due to business email compromise
have risen from $3.8 million1 to $132
million2.
Typically such frauds take the form of a "man in the
middle" attack where fraudsters insert themselves between a
business making a payment (payer) and the intended recipient
(payee). Access to email credentials can be gained in a number of
ways, including by an email phishing attack. The fraudsters then
send an email changing the account details of the intended payment
to an account they control. Once the payment is made the funds are
immediately forwarded on in ways that elude tracing. The two
innocent businesses are then left to deal with the loss.
