Hello, this is CoBank’s Fraud Wise, helping you avoid becoming a victim of fraud.
For most employees, when the CEO or CFO asks you to do something, you jump right to it. Unfortunately, that may not always be the best move when it comes to financial transactions.
In this episode of Fraud Wise we’re talking about impersonation scams, when a perpetrator pretends to be someone making a legitimate-sounding request, hoping that an unwitting employee will just follow directions.
These requests frequently appear to come from executives asking for funds transfers – often with requests for confidentiality and urgency, and delivered outside of normal processes. Since it’s all-too-easy to find actual executive profiles and email signatures online, these requests can be very convincing. Before complying with any request for a funds transfer, it’s critical that the employee verify the request – confirm with the executive that the request is legitimate by calling a known phone number, rather than responding to the email.
Though obtaining money is often the end goal, requests can also be for personal information from the recipient employee or other employees. Personal identifying information for anyone should never be sent without confirmation that the request is legitimate and the person requesting the information has the legal right to the information. Human resources staff are particularly vulnerable to this type of request because they have the most access to personal information.
Impersonation scams aren’t limited to pretending to be an executive. Perpetrators can pretend to be any employee, requesting anything from an update to an automated payroll deposit account to requesting a copy of a W9 form, which contains personal identifying information. As with requests for financial transactions, any request for financial account updates or personal information should be confirmed with a phone call to a known number.
This has been CoBank Fraud Wise, helping you protect against fraud.