Posted by: TAZ Networks on November 30, 2015 at 5:19 pm
Redacted screenshot of an email received by one of our clients.
Imagine you get an email from your boss, asking you to prepare a wire transfer.
It seems like an odd request, so you check the sending email address — it’s correct. It also has the same signature your boss uses when sending from his phone.
The problem is, it’s not a request from your boss, but a cleverly-designed scam.
We’ve written about this scam before. Recently, however, one of our clients received just this kind of email.
Fortunately, the client caught the scam before any damage was done, partly due to an unusual set of circumstances. The person addressed in the email had recently left the company. Their email was being forwarded to the owner. So the owner received an email, addressed to the former employee, that appeared as if the owner himself had sent it!
Our client contacted us right away, and we took care of it.
The main clue this time was the “Reply-to” email. It was a generic Gmail account, without the supposed sender’s name.
Be safe, be aware, and double-check any odd money requests — even if they seem to come from your boss.