Bank Impersonation Scams, phishing and Business Email Compromise
Fraudsters and cybercriminals often leverage public events to make a profit, steal personal information and/or insert malware on victims’ devices. Be wary of incoming emails/text/phone calls related to recent bank failures as they could be phishing attempts or scams. Attacks may present as offers to: set up a new bank account, recover money, provide assistance, or take part in a lawsuit against a closed bank.

For businesses: be on the lookout for Business Email Compromise (BEC) – emails from “companies” claiming they were clients of a bank failure and that they have changed banks / bank accounts. They could be fraudsters trying to set up fake accounts to steal money from your organization.

Examples:
Phishing: A fraudster may send you an email that appears to come from a collapsed bank. The email indicates that your funds are safe and that they have been temporarily moved to a new account. The urgent request asks that you click on the link and enter all your information into the site to access your new account and funds. You enter all of your information on the new site. However, the next time you click on the link in the email, the site cannot be accessed. You realize you have just given your personal information to a fraudster.

Business Email Compromise: You work in Accounts Payable at a Small Organization and receive an email from the CEO of one of your suppliers. The email indicates they are no longer with a particular bank. They are now with XYZ Bank and request that you kindly direct all payments to the new accounts, which are included in the email. Your policy is to confirm all requests of this nature by phone. However, when you call the CEO, she confirms she never sent the email.

What to look out for:
Phishing

• Requests for personal information
• Requests to complete web forms
• A sense of urgency or consequence if you don’t respond quickly
• Fake links, which can be identified by hovering over them
• Generic greetings instead of your name
• Emails, texts, or calls from unfamiliar or suspicious sources
• Email addresses that are inconsistent with the legitimate company’s email domain and email addresses with misspelled or added characters

BEC

• Requests that involve excessive urgency, persuasion, pressure, or manipulation.
• Requests involve an address or a bank account you’ve never used before.
• If the address or bank account details don’t match your existing records; verify all email addresses
• Always verify the request by calling the contact in person.

Learn more about trending Frauds & Scams