Successful Product CEO-Fraud – An old scam yet the danger remains present

The target of CEO-Fraud is usually one single person. In most cases, an employee in the accounting department with direct authority to execute bank transfers. In order to execute the scam and make it appear as authentic as possible, extraordinarily good preparation is needed at the start of the scam. The magic word here is Social Engineering. Social Engineering means cyber criminals try to gather as much information as possible about their victim. They find such information on social media channels like Facebook, Linkedin or Xing. Most of the time, it’s easy to acquire personal information such as job title, place of work or even the complete organigram of a company.

Cheating and Feinting: The Offensive Stage of CEO Fraud

If the blackmailer has gathered enough information on their target they make the first contact and begin the offensive stage of CEO Fraud. The offenders now must accomplish a certain familiarity with the targeted subject. They do this by referring to current topics of the company in their email. This topic could be an upcoming acquisition or the latestsales figureswhich can be withdrawn from previous press releases. To put the crown on the scam, some cyber criminals create an email address that is similar to the one of the CEO. In this connection, it is a perfidious trick to replace certain letters with letters that look extraordinarily similar. The letter L in mueller@examplecompany can for instance be easily replaced by a capital I. For the ordinary person, this scam also known as Spoofing can only be recognized by close scrutiny. Another trick utilized by cyber criminals is the use of an existing emal communication. For example, if the offender knows with which person the CEO of a company usually communicates with and what topics are usually discussed, the perpetrator can counterfeit such communication. Fake logos and email signatures complete the picture of a completely legitimate email communication. It’s in the email itself where cyber criminals dig deep into their bag of psychological tricks in order to initiate the transactions they desire. A commendation for the work of the targeted subject or the buildup of pressure can be used to trick the subject. Often, the offenders pretend to need a transfer of money to be sent as quickly as possible because an important and discreet deal could fail. It must be discreetso the targeted subject does not inform other colleagues about this affair which could end the scam.