Asset finance payment redirection scams (Business Email Compromises [BECs])
Attracted by the large amounts of money involved, scammers can target asset finance brokers with email compromise payment redirection scams.
This is how it works.
Scammers learn about the financial transactions underway between broking customers, their brokers and asset suppliers by hacking into the email account of one of the parties. The scammer will patiently monitor emails and wait until the transaction gets close to settlement. They’ll then intercept a genuine email from the customer and change the bank account details. So when you receive your customer’s email, you’re expecting it and everything looks genuine – except that the bank account details are for the scammer’s account.
Alternatively, the scammers may create a new fake email address that’s difficult to distinguish from the original in an attempt to redirect the payment to their account.
That’s why you need to make sure that when you’re given new account numbers by your customers you validate them by calling your customer on a trusted phone number. Be particularly alert to a customer emailing you to advise they’ve changed their bank account details.
