Hey guys,
First of all, things happen, I know. I'm moving forward, but thought I should share since apparently this is becoming much more prevalent and don't want anyone else getting robbed.
I work for a small company that contracts with much larger companies for consulting services. They invoice my work and then I get paid. Usually, the payments come in large lump sums. Well, someone hacked our system and sent my client a change of account form. My client didn't follow proper procedure and changed it without verification.
End result - they paid the hackers and I'm out $68K and change, and there is no insurance or digital trail to get it back. Now lawyers are involved, along with the FBI, but my chance of getting the money back is probably about 1%.
That said, I wanted to make everyone here aware of this issue. According to my friend who works in digital security, and our contacts with the FBI, this has become a huge problem. Hackers target small companies that make large transactions. Apparently title companies are a big target, and about 50% of companies that get hit go bankrupt within the next year. What they do is infiltrate your system and create a means of communicating as if they were you, while intercepting any return messages, so you will never know that they are in contact with someone as if they were you, unless you proactively call or do something else.
Last year, the NSA was hacked and the hackers stole code for many of the cyber weapons that the NSA was using to hack foreign governments and companies for info. So in the last year, hackers have been happily targeting US companies using our own technology, and basic anti-virus doesn't stand a chance.
Be extra vigilant guys. Keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Whether you are the one invoicing, or the one making large payments, be careful. They could just as easily target someone like a dealer who makes large payments to suppliers and get them to pay the wrong account.
Be careful out there guys
