TORONTO: Attempts at cyber wire fraud globally, via emails purporting to be from trusted business associates, surged in the last seven months of 2016, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said in a warning to businesses.
Fraudsters sought to steal $5.3 billion through schemes known as business email compromise from October 2013 through December, the FBI said in a report released Thursday by its Internet Crime Complaint Center (ICCC).
The figure is up sharply from the FBI’s previous report, which said thieves attempted to steal $3.1 billion from October 2013 through May 2016, according to a survey of cases from law-enforcement agencies around the world.
The number of business-email compromise cases, in which cyber criminals request wire transfers in emails that look like they are from senior corporate executives or business suppliers who regularly request payments, almost doubled from May to December of last year, rising to 40,203 from 22,143, the FBI said.
The survey does not track how much money was actually lost to criminals.
Robert Holmes, who studies business email compromise for security firm Proofpoint Inc., estimated the incidents collated by the FBI represent just 20 percent of the total, and that the actual losses could be as much as double the figures reported by the FBI.
The losses are growing as scammers become more sophisticated, delving deeper into corporate finance departments to find susceptible targets, he said.
“This is not a volume play; it is a carefully researched play,” he said.
The US is by far the biggest target market, though fraudsters have started to expand in other developed countries, including Australia, Britain, France and Germany, Holmes said.
The FBI has said that about one in four US victims responds by wiring money to fraudsters. In some of those cases, authorities have been able to identify the crimes in time to help victims recover the funds from banks before the criminals pulled them out of the system.
The US Department of Justice said in March that it had charged a Lithuanian man with orchestrating a fraudulent email scheme that had tricked agents and employees of two US-based Internet companies into wiring more than $100 million to overseas bank accounts.
Fraudsters have also used spoofed emails to trick corporate workers into releasing sensitive data, including wage and tax reports, according to the advisory.
FBI warns of surge in wire-transfer fraud via spoofed emails
FBI warns of surge in wire-transfer fraud via spoofed emails
School, hotel outlays keep Saudi POS weekly spending above $3bn: SAMA
RIYADH: Spending on education in Saudi Arabia increased by 4.3 percent for the week ending Jan. 10, while hotel outlays saw a 0.9 percent increase, aiding the total weekly spending to stay above $3 billion.
According to the latest data from the Saudi Central Bank, the overall point-of-sale value dropped 16.6 percent to SR14.2 billion ($3.79 billion) with transactions representing a 7.3 percent week-on-week decrease to 236.7 million.
This week saw negative changes across all the remaining sectors.
Spending in the freight transport, postal, and courier services sector saw the biggest decrease at 35.9 percent to SR47.60 million, followed by telecommunications, which posted a 26.2 percent drop to SR188.42 million.
Expenditure on apparel and clothing saw a fall of 19.3 percent to SR1.3 billion, followed by an 18.3 percent decrease in spending on books and stationery. Jewelry outlays saw a 22.3 percent decrease to reach SR422.54 million.
Spending on car rentals in Saudi Arabia fell by 14.2 percent, while airlines saw a 6.3 percent decrease to SR48.04 million.
Expenditure on food and beverages saw a 23.6 percent decrease to SR2.07 billion, claiming the largest share of the POS. Restaurants and cafes retained the second position despite a 7.3 percent dip to SR1.76 billion.
The Kingdom’s key urban centers mirrored the national decline. Riyadh, which accounted for the largest share of total POS spending, saw a 13.6 percent dip to SR4.85 billion, down from SR5.61 billion the previous week.
The number of transactions in the capital settled at 74.78 million, down 6.1 percent week on week.
In Jeddah, transaction values decreased by 9.5 percent to SR2.02 billion, while Dammam reported a 15 percent decrease to SR707.12 million.
POS data, tracked weekly by SAMA, provides an indicator of consumer spending trends and the ongoing growth of digital payments in the Kingdom.
The data also highlights the expanding reach of POS infrastructure, extending beyond major retail hubs to smaller cities and service sectors, supporting broader digital inclusion initiatives.
The growth of digital payment technologies aligns with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 objectives, promoting electronic transactions and contributing to the Kingdom’s broader digital economy.
