Plot by hackers to cheat Singaporean firm of US$75,000 foiled by bank
Scammers simply added an extra letter to an actual client’s email address to issue a US$75,000 purchase order, with the cash transferred to Hong Kong
By Alfred Chua
Were it not for the intervention of United Overseas Bank (UOB), Mr Muralidaran Naidu’s company would have been fleeced of US$75,000 by hackers last year.
The scammers had infiltrated his company’s email server sometime in November 2015 and “intercepted” emails. Posing as the company’s client, a Myanmar firm, they began communicating with Mr Muralidaran, his company’s chairman and the finance team.
Mr Muralidaran, who is the business development director, declined to reveal the name of his company and the nature of its business.
He and his colleagues did not realise the scammers had added an extra letter to their actual customer’s email address.
His chairman approved a US$75,000 purchase order issued by the hackers, and the money was transferred to Hong Kong via UOB between January and February last year.
Subsequent communication with the actual customer revealed that no such order had been made. By the time he realised his company had been scammed, the money had been transferred for a week.