Over $40 Million Recovered and Arrests Made Within Days After Firm Discovers Business Email Compromise Scam

According to the FBI, billions of dollars have been lost through Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks in recent years, so you may well think that there is little in the way of good news.

However, it has been revealed this week that police managed to recover more than US $40 million snatched in a recent BEC heist just two days after being told about it.

As Interpol describes, police were contacted by an unnamed commodities firm in Singapore last month after realising that it had been tricked into transferring funds into a fraudulent bank account based in East Timor (also known as Timor-Leste).

The firm had been duped into believing that the bank account belonged to one of its legitimate suppliers and transferred an eye-watering US $42.3 million into its account on July 19 after receiving a scam email.

Four days later, the Singapore firm realised it had been the victim of an expensive fraud when it was contacted by the genuine supplier who complained that they had not received an expected payment. It contacted local police, who liaised with Interpol and authorities in Timor Leste.

On the very next day, July 24, Singapore police received confirmation from Interpol that the Timor Leste authorities had frozen more than US $39 million.

You might think that was a great result, but there was further good news to come. Between 24-26 July, police in Timor Leste arrested seven suspects in relation to the fraud and recovered an additional US $2 million. Efforts are now underway to return the stolen funds to the victim.

The swift action was possible because of Interpol’s Global Rapid Intervention of Payments (I-GRIP) mechanism, a system devised specifically to expedite cooperation between international forces in relation to financial crimes.

Within days, USD 39 million was frozen in Timor Leste, and seven suspects were arrested. This led to the recovery of an additional USD 2 million. Efforts are underway to return the stolen funds to the victim.

“Scams are a global threat that requires a global response from law enforcement. Today, money moves at the click of a button, and law enforcement must be able to move as fast to protect our citizens,” said David Chew, Director of the Singapore Police Force’s Commercial Affairs Department. “We commend the swift and decisive action of INTERPOL’s Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre, which played a pivotal role in the prompt interception of more than USD 40 million.”

Interpol encourages businesses and individuals to remain vigilant and make sure that staff are clued-up about the tell-tale signs of BEC attacks and how to prevent them and other scams from succeeding.

Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in this and other guest author articles are solely those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect those of Tripwire.