A Professional syndicate is responsible for a spate of cyber crimes aimed at local businesses. That's the opinion of private investigator Rich Crouch who said businesses were losing millions as a result.
According to Crouch, the modus operandi is that the business targeted will receive an email that appears to be from a supplier. Attached to the email is a letter that once again appears to be from the supplier's accounting department. The letter appears to be a good copy of the company's genuine letterhead. In the letter, the targeted company is informed that the supplier's banking details have changed and that they should update their records to reflect the new banking information. To make this appear more authentic, there is a letter from a major bank attached to the email that validates the new banking information.
“This is a professional syndicate, they have very good intelligence, are computer savvy and allegedly have members inside banks and delivery companies that assist and feed them information. They know who to target and they know the targeted company's suppliers. They also know that these companies pay their suppliers in excess of a million Rand on a monthly basis. I would suggest that if a company receives such an email from a supplier, they call the supplier to verify but do not use information on the email or letter, call them on a number that you already have for them,” said Crouch.
He said he was working on similar cases and requested that if any business anywhere in the country had been a victim of this type of fraud, or had received a similar email or letter, that they should contact him with details.
“We are trying to link all these cases so that the police can make arrests. We keep all information received confidential, we understand the sensitivities involved with businesses not wanting it to be known that they have been a victim of a fraud,” said Crouch.
Contact Crouch on 031 764 1321 or rick@rickcrouch.co.za
