FBI Warns Public To Watch For E-mail Schemes

That financial request from your boss or title company may actually be coming from somewhere else.

The FBI is issuing a warning about business e-mail compromise schemes.

Special Agent Paul Brown says this type of scam can take many forms, but a common one targets real estate transactions. Last week the Justice Department announced hundreds of arrests as part of Operation ReWired, which targeted these schemes.

Operation reWired, a months-long, multi-agency effort to disrupt and dismantle international business email compromise (BEC) schemes, resulted in 281 arrests, including 74 in the United States, officials announced. Arrests were also made in Nigeria, Turkey, Ghana, France, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, and the United Kingdom. The sweep resulted in the seizure of nearly $3.7 million and the disruption and recovery of approximately $118 million in fraudulent wire transfers.

These sophisticated cyber-enabled scams often target employees with access to company finances and—using methods like social engineering and computer intrusions—trick them into making wire transfers to bank accounts thought to belong to trusted partners. The accounts are actually controlled by the criminals.