Timeline Photos ATTENTION BUSINESSES!
Your Oxnard Police Department Fraud Unit is issuing the following warning to businesses: Please be aware of phishing phone calls, but especially emails!
Emails have been received by companies (from scammers) asking for payment of invoices and those emails are usually sent to the “SPAM” folder. Some emails will seem to be legitimate and appear in your inbox, but if opened, can be used to glean information about your company. This information is in turn used to impersonate high-ranking personnel within the business to a person with check-writing or funds-transfer abilities. Funds are requested to pay a “bill” and once money is sent, it is usually gone for good.
Confused? Here is an example. Joe is in charge of accounts payable. Joe opens and responds to an email purportedly from his supervisor, Dan. The email says that Dan is getting on a plane but forgot to pay a bill. Dan asks for $XXXX to be sent to ABC Industries immediately but says he will be unable to respond to any communications due to airline restrictions on phone usage. Joe wires the money and when Dan returns, Joe finds out that someone impersonated Dan and the money is long gone. .
What can you do? The only surefire way to prevent this scam is to have all funds transfers verified by phone or in person. If your business pays too many invoices to verify every one, set a cap such as only payments above a certain amount need in person or phone verification. Also, be aware of the “I’m getting on a plane” reason. As this is the holiday season and most people are traveling, it may seem reasonable but may not be true.
If your business is a victim of this scam, contact your local law enforcement agency and the FBI. The FBI will respond very quickly to such crimes and activate a "kill chain" to get the money back, but ONLY if they report within 24 hours. For more on this scam and others, click on the following links:
https://www.ic3.gov/media/2016/160614.aspx and https://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/news/cnwin16/phishing.html. ... See more