Fraudsters are targeting new employees as part of a fake boss scam.
The fraud works by scammers pretending to be a new employee’s boss and then asking them to send gift cards and money.
The worker then unwittingly sends the money to the fraudster.
By the time the employee realises they have been duped the money has gone.
During the boss scam, fraudsters will often mimic email addresses of new employer’s by creating similar addresses that are easily mistaken.
It is believed that scammers are scrolling through LinkedIn messages to target new employees- this is often referred to as ‘spear phishing’.
Our senior solicitor Peter Joyce was asked to comment in the Financial Times about fake boss scams.
Mr Joyce spoke about how it is particularly tricky to police gift card transactions and how the lost money is incredibly difficult to retrieve.
Read the FT story here (paywalled)
Top Tips For Employers To Avoid Fake Boss Scams.
- Make new staff aware of fake boss scams as part of their induction.
- Set up a process of who can send money (or gift cards) and how these requests are signed off.
- Educate staff about about which emails are genuine. Many companies have different email urls.
Learn more about: Business Scams.
