Fraudsters trying to defraud Russian importers via e-mail have become more active on the Internet, said Artur Leer, vice-president of the Association of Exporters and Importers.
He linked the current trend to the increase in the number of links in payment chains, which gives attackers more opportunities to commit fraud.
The fraudsters proceed as follows: first, several thousand phishing letters are sent simultaneously to the company email address of the importer and its foreign supplier, explained the source of the publication in one of the banks. The importer then receives messages in which the fraudsters pretend to be his foreign supplier, the sender’s address being almost identical to the supplier’s real email address, but differing by a symbol. Usually, the buyer does not notice this difference.
Andrei Gusev, Managing Partner at Nordic Star Law Firm, comments: “Email spoofing is one of the most common schemes used by criminals in international trade, as it is technically easy to implement and the recipients of the letters are “psychologically vulnerable”. The likelihood of recovering lost money increases with a timely response and assistance from lawyers, but this process can be complicated and lengthy, depending on the speed of response and the nuances of the legislation of the country to which the money has been transferred”.
The full commentary is available on the RBC website.