- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

German Companies Lose Millions of Euro Due to Cyber Fraud

CC0 / Pixabay / Cyber security
Cyber security - Sputnik International
Subscribe
The German companies have lost millions of euro, falling victims to "CEO Fraud", a scam that uses counterfeit emails on behalf of CEO in order to obtain money, the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) said Monday.

BERLIN (Sputnik) — The fraud is targeted at the decision-makers, especially, the employees of financial department and accounting departments who receive fake emails on behalf of CEO asking to transfer large sums of money as soon as possible and keep it as a secret, since the money are needed "for secret project". The criminals reportedly gained the contact information from the official websites of the companies as well as from online career portals, social networks or even through direct phone calls to the company.

"According to the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), CEO Fraud alone has caused losses worth of millions [of euros] in recent months," BSI said in a press release.

According to the press release, the authorities have formed a list of around 5,000 individuals and companies that are potentially at risk. The BSI warned the companies' employees against replying to such emails and advised those, who had already received a counterfeit mail, to cancel transactions if possible and report the case to the police immediately.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала