Businesses in Larimer County have been receiving bogus invoices from scammers. These invoices seem real since they are supposedly from someone from your upper level management directing your finance personnel to set up a payment to a new vendor and send an express payment to this new vendor for some kind of services. Naturally, finance assumes that this is legitimate request since it is directly from a higher level manager and responds affirmatively. If you look closely at the request from this manager, however, you will see some red flags that let you know this is NOT a legitimate request but a scam. Below are some examples of the actual emails and I have noted the red flags. Names have been changed to protect the businesses.
Please note that before paying an invoice requested by upper management in an email like this, contact the manager and ask if this request is legitimate. I have included some links at the bottom about this scam which has been active for many years. Back in 2014 it was called the Bossy Scam and more recently called the CEO Scam. Feel free to pass this along to other businesses.
If you have questions or receive these scam emails, please contact Barbara EJ Bennett, Sheriff’s Auxiliary Unit Coordinator at 970-682-0597 or email bennetbe@co.larimer.co.us . PLEASE BE EXTRA CAUTIOUS!
Another business received similar invoice – using their chief officer name and their chief financial officer name from their website. The CO name had an email like this –
Here are a few links that discuss this scam that has been active over the last five years.
https://www.mineraltree.com/blog/ceo-fraud-fake-invoices-bec-scams-oh-my-its-cyber-security-awareness-month/
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6410-corporate-executives-targeted-in-new-email-scam.html
https://www.cio.com/article/3136159/how-to-prevent-ceo-fraud.html
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2014/08/bossy-business-scam
Read about a case of this type of fraud with a little twist on this website – see excerpt below on some tips to help you prevent falling for this scam.
“Fortunately, you can add a few steps to your invoice process to mitigate
the risk of paying fraudulent invoices like this:
● Make sure all invoices are approved/reviewed by the department head who would have ordered the product/service in the first place. In this case, our accounting team sent the invoice to our marketing manager for final review. If the invoice is fraudulent, the department head will be your best bet in catching the fraud.
● If something seems suspicious, use Google for a little detective work. The Better Business Bureau is a great place to start, as other companies targeted by the scam group typically review and comment with their experiences here. You can also search the name of the company followed by the word “scam.”
● Double-check addresses and phone numbers listed online with those listed on the invoice. Strategic Business Communications has actually lifted the name from a legitimate company based in California, so a search of the company name first brings up the legitimate company. However, if you look closely, the address on the invoice says this particular scam business is located in New York.
● If questions still linger, give the business a call. Someone will probably answer the call, but you may have noticed he or she get agitated when you start asking hard questions. You can also threaten to report them to the Better Business Bureau and see how they react.”