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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    Account payment scam

    Are you sure the account you are paying into is indeed that of of the person/company you are supposed to be paying.
    Under the new scam, there was no request for a refund. Payment was merely directed into a fraudulent account.

    Con-artists usually targeted businesses by claiming to work for one of their creditors, and were in possession of all the necessary contact details on both sides and the exact amounts involved.

    They inform the victim verbally and in writing, using the creditor's letterhead, which they fax, that their banking details have changed and the amount must be credited to a newly appointed account number and institution.

    Victims deposited the money into this account and realised they had been scammed only when their genuine creditors contacted them about their outstanding accounts.

    There have been reports of incidents where stickers with new payment details have been stuck on to original invoices directing payment to fraudulent accounts
    extract from M&G report here
    This is deeply troubling from two points of view:
    • There has to be an insider involved
    • Debtors are going to use this as an excuse for delaying legitimate payment - in some instances even if they have not been scammed like this.

    To my mind the underlying source of the problem is that when you pay online, the account name details you have entered are not compared against the account name details of the recipient account. The whole transaction hinges on the account number only.
    Last edited by Dave A; 25-Apr-08 at 07:19 AM. Reason: typo

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