A Canadian company lost 600000 yuan due to an email! Warning: Be cautious when sharing online

Ontario police recently collaborated with the Canadian Anti Fraud Centre and the United States Secret Service to prevent a Canadian company from receiving over CAD 600000 in remittances related to spear phishing scams.

According to CTV, according to a press release, the Ontario Provincial Police stated that a member working with the Canadian Anti Fraud Centre learned on February 2, 2024, that a Canadian company had become a victim of spear phishing scams.

The police stated that the member contacted the Secret Service, which immediately contacted the US financial institution involved.

The police confirmed that the transfer involving CAD 615820 was frozen prior to the transfer of funds

Image source: CTV

The company is expected to recover its funds due to timely reporting to the Anti Fraud Center and swift action by members of various organizations, "the press release stated

The details of this fraud case have not been released yet, but the police have stated that in spear phishing scams, scammers typically send messages to a targeted email account of a company or individual. The police stated that these emails are usually sent to the accounts payable department.

Scammers will create an email address that looks very similar to the target company's email address, in order to appear that the email is from a trusted source (supplier or contractor). Scammers will request an emergency payment to be transferred to a backup bank account for the payment of due invoices, "the press release continued.

Scammers will spend time collecting information, studying the language of their targets, and searching for important contacts, payments, and dates so that they can send convincing emails that appear to come from trusted sources