Is that email really from your boss? Island IT specialists and cyber-crime experts say a ‘Fake CEO fraud’ scam is hitting Island businesses. The scam sees criminals impersonating the e-mail accounts of business owners and directors, telling staff that they need to quickly transfer money to a certain bank account for what can appear to be a legitimate reason. Many simply do what their boss asks, only to later find that they have sent money to a fraudsters bank account.
Gary Peace, founder of Island based Cyber-crime consultancy ESID, warns: “Fraud, whether it’s conducted over a counter, or online cannot be prevented by technology alone. What is vital is having a security culture and ethical working practices, followed by everyone. The final check and balance is and always will be the human one. It’s your biggest asset, but it’s also your biggest vulnerability. Employees need to be aware of not only the threat but also be vigilant and empowered enough to question payments.”
Jonathan Thornton of PC Consultants adds: “Whilst IT security is a very important part of working to protecting against these types of threats and businesses should work with their IT provider to ensure that their systems are secure, the final check will always lie with the user authorizing the payments.”
