Beware of changes to Bank Details | Jan17 Alan Arthurson
Years ago, whilst working in Italy, my companion lost his money, passport and credit cards when we were both distracted by a seemingly crazy Italian. Ever since then, when anyone starts yelling and making a commotion around me, I instinctively grab my wallet. You might want to do the same.
And, you might want to develop the same reflex when one of your regular Suppliers sends you a legitimate invoice with new Bank Details. You see, the email may be real and so too the invoice - but maybe those new Bank Details are a scam! And, if your accounts department isn't careful, literally thousands of dollars can be lost in moments.
What's happened is that your Supplier's email account has been hacked, and the thread which you are part of has been updated by the hackers. Everything is right about the email except the new Bank Details. So whenever you are advised about new Bank Details, it is VITAL you get those details double-checked. And by the way, your email accounts may be hacked for the same purpose, that is, to engage with your customers with real emails and invoices, but fraudulent Bank details.
You always need to be on the lookout for these sorts of tricks and remember to protect yourself as much as possible, by:
- making your staff aware of the dangers,
- using a good anti-malware suite,
- keeping your Operating System patches up to date and
- installing malware protection on your phone and tablets.
Plenty of people fall for these tricks every day - let's make sure we're not one of them! And remember, whenever someone mentions changing Bank Accounts, always confirm the details BEFORE you pay up. Otherwise, one day you may be caught out, like two of our Customers recently, and just like my friend was in Italy in 1979.