Kirjautuneen henkilöasiakkaan päivittäiset uutiset

22.11.2021 15:01

Online scammers prey on entrepreneurs as well

In the pursuit of making easy money, criminals have also moved on to the internet. Information is the best defence against online fraud. We will be celebrating the International Fraud Awareness Week between 15 and 22 November by holding information sessions concerning online fraud. The sessions will be held on the internet and locally in OP cooperative banks.

Scammers will often prey on companies during their summer holidays, when routine operations are being run by stand-ins. Typical scams are so-called CEO fraud, salary payment fraud, and the phishing of employees’ MS Office credentials.

CEO Fraud

In CEO fraud, a scammer will approach their victims via email and pretend to be a company or association executive. The aim of the scam is to convince the email’s recipient, who is typically the person responsible for payments, to make a credit transfer. For example, the email may appear to be sent by a real person, when in fact, the sender's address has been forged or the email account has been hacked. 

Salary Payment Fraud 

Salary payment fraud involves scammers sending an email impersonating a company’s employee to HR. The message claims to include a new account number for payroll purposes. The goal is to direct the employee’s salary to the scammer’s account. In such a case, the sender’s address is fraudulent or their email account has been hijacked.

Office 365 Credential Phishing 

A message phishing for a user’s Office 365 credentials might appear to be sent by someone that the user knows. The message typically contains a link to a file or a website. When you click the link, you end up on a genuine-looking page where you are asked to log in using your Office 365 credentials. If you enter your credentials on the page, they will end up in the possession of the scammers.

How to protect yourself against fraud

  1. Go through the payment processes of your company regularly. 
  2. Provide stand-ins with orientation and make sure that they are aware of potential fraud attempts.
  3. Always take note of any updated account numbers. Create a clear process for updating account numbers in different systems.
  4. If you receive a suspicious message, confirm with the sender either by phone or face to face whether or not they actually sent the message.
  5. Report every scam or attempted scam to your own OP cooperative bank or to the corporate customers’ customer service.
  6. Report the attempted scam to the police. 
  7. Forward any phishing email messages to tietoturvailmoitukset@op.fi. This will allow us to keep track of any scams that are currently circulating. We will also be able to warn our clients about them.

For more information of various scam types, please visit our website.