While ransomware is making the headlines as the major cyber threat for businesses, small and mid-sized organizations are increasingly being targeted by lower fraud that dupes them into wiring criminals funds, according to a new report.
These funds transfer fraud crimes involve hackers gaining access to a company’s mailbox and extracting payments that go into their accounts through a variety of techniques. Worse, by the time a company realizes they were scammed, the money is long gone and the bank accounts are closed.
It’s imperative that companies have in place proper systems safeguards to combat these attacks, and that includes regularly training staff on how to identify these attempts to steal funds.
Losses from funds transfer fraud increased 69% for U.S. businesses between 2020 and 2021, according to cyber insurance and security firm Coalition’s “2022 Cyber Claims Report.”
But smaller and mid-sized companies saw attacks surge even more. Average initial losses from funds transfer fraud for small firms (those with less than $25 million in annual revenue) more than doubled to $309,000 in the second half of 2021, compared to the same period in 2020.
Additionally, enterprises with between $25 million and $100 million in revenue saw a 68% increase in the frequency of funds transfer fraud. Funds Transfer Fraud Increasingly Affects Small Firms