BEC scammers actively targeting Fortune 500 companies

Advertisement


Nigerian scammers are targeting Fortune 500 companies, and have already stolen millions of dollars from some of them, IBM Security researchers have found.

Their strategy is well known: they take over or impersonate a trusted user’s email account to target companies that conduct international wire transfers, and trick accounts payable personnel into wiring money into bank accounts under their control.

These so-called business email compromise (BEC) scams don’t require much technical knowledge, malware or special tools, and each successful attack against a well-heeled individual or organization can net scammers quite a lot of money.

Advertisement