Member Article

Hackers attack Warrington business in $750k scam

A Warrington-based global procurement business has fallen victim to an online scam, which led to the firm depositing $750,000 in a false bank account in Singapore.

Chase International’s correspondence with their Chinese supplier was illegally intercepted by hackers, who obtained significant amounts of private information, including names, email addresses and invoice schedules.

This data allowed the hackers to create fake email addresses to then contact Chase International with alternate payment requests.

Managing director of Chase International Brian Woolley commented: “Our global reach means we work within multiple time zones, this makes email our main method of communication with suppliers.

“A request to pay into an alternate Bank account in Singapore seemed plausible especially as we were aware that the CEO had just returned from incorporating a new company there.

“Email security had not been front of mind for us before the hack. […] As a team we have learnt there is very little support available for victims of international cybercrime. My advice to the business community is ‘prevention is key’.”

Paul Talbot, chief technology officer for service delivery firm adept4, added: “Cyber espionage continues to grow on a daily basis yet business owners and senior executives continuously appear to ignore it.

“Chase is the victim of a highly professional attack and any organisation could be next.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .