Your business contracts to sell custom manufactured equipment.
The equipment is ready, and you email the Buyer to confirm, request
wire transfer of payment, and arrange for pick-up. Buyer confirms
receipt of your email and that it will send payment and a truck to
pick up the equipment. The Buyer's carrier shows up to take
possession of the equipment, but the money never hit your account.
The Buyer insists it wired the money three days ago. Someone,
somewhere fell for a Business Email Compromise (BEC) Scam. The
money is gone.
Who bears the loss? Do you, the manufacturer, have to release
the equipment without having received the funds? Does the Buyer
have to pay a second time? Does a vendor to the Buyer or
Manufacturer bear some responsibility in letting the scammer inside
the system? Georgia's Courts have yet to squarely address these
issues, but other jurisdictions have set forth a potentially
relevant framework for analyzing liability in analogous cases. The
answer
