Reports of e-mail fraud companies have more than doubled

Source: BNR; André Vermeulen from Fraudehelpdesk Listen to news report on BNR

Companies are increasingly falling victim to email scams. This year, many more reports were received by the Fraud Helpdesk from companies that were taken online.

The damage incurred has now more than doubled compared to 2015. Scammers managed to steal around 1.4 million euros. It is not certain whether the actual number has doubled or whether it is just the reports. According to André Vermeulen of the Fraud Helpdesk, it also plays a role in the fact that they are becoming more and more famous. 'But it is also true that the criminals are left virtually untouched. They are difficult to catch, move all over the world and police services often have other priorities.' But how do they arrive at those amounts? 'Two companies that want to do business and are in different countries have a lot of email traffic with each other. At a certain point, company A places an order with company B. And when payment is made, criminals come into play,' explains André Vermeulen. The criminals can then break into email traffic. With an email address that is very similar to that of the party that should receive the money, they send an email with a different bank account number. "And then you lose the money," says Vermeulen. West Africa According to Vermeulen, the hackers mainly come from West Africa. 'That could be Nigeria, Ghana or even Benin. This has become clear from one of the reports we received. We now know that gentlemen from that part of the world are very resourceful when it comes to internet scams.'