Beware of Scammers: Change of Bank Details

By now most of us have heard of scamsters emailing different bank details to Estate Agents and Attorneys, especially Conveyancing Attorneys.

This is reality and not just stories to increase our daily administrative tasks. Many of us have experienced it first hand and unfortunately, some of us have been caught. We need to be constantly mindful of the threat.

Last week we asked an Estate Agency to confirm their bank details as we had registered a transfer and needed to pay their commission. We received a different invoice and different proof of bank details from those we had received earlier during the process. Our alert paralegal phoned the agency and asked why they would have changed their bank details. The Agency advised they had not and that they still banked with FNB. Yet we had received an invoice with a Nedbank account and proof of a Nedbank account number. We forwarded the email to the Agency, and they were horrified when they saw what we had received.

I have scrutinised the emails, the invoice and the proof of the Nedbank bank details and can see no obvious clue that we received these from a fraudster. In the past, we were all circumspect when using free mail such as Gmail, Hotmail and telkomsa.net. This agency has its own domain, and the email address looks totally legitimate.

Today we learnt that one of the bigger Joburg-based Estate Agencies had lost about R450,000.00 through an email cloning scam recently. They have apparently had forensic investigators investigate how they were scammed, and the investigators could find no clue as to how this could have happened.

As a practice, our firm does not email bank details and if we receive bank details from outside our organisation, we phone the payee to confirm the bank details. Rather, we SMS bank details from our secure system, or one of our Directors send bank details from his or her private WhatsApp account. We include a clear instruction in whichever message that the payee should phone our office to confirm the bank details before making a payment. Some clients prefer to transfer R100,00 to us and once we confirm receipt, they transfer the rest. Also, a very safe idea.

I received the following message when I logged into FNB internet banking this afternoon: Criminals send emails, invoices or letters notifying you that suppliers’ details have changed. Please note that any change of banking details must be verified using the contact details you have on record for the supplier. It’s irregular for companies to change their banking details unexpectedly or without notice. Be wary and verify the recipient’s account.

How true!

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