We've all gotten random emails from undisclosed scammers who claim you've won $1 million or a free trip to the Bahamas — all you have to do is enter your bank account information. But soon you may be getting those emails from your CEO.
A new scam called "business email crime" — or "CEO fraud" — has been on the rise as of late and affected more than 12,000 victims across the world, according to CNBC.
The scam works like this: A criminal poses as a company's CEO, imitating his or her email account. Through the CEO's fake email account, the criminal tells an employee to wire company money to an overseas bank account. The employee follows the instructions and the money is gone.
"It's easy. All you need is a computer," said James Barnacle, chief of the FBI's money laundering unit.
The FBI has been investigating the increasing commonality of the scam and found the average company sends — and loses — $120,000. However, some companies have reportedly lost as much as $90 million. In fact, between October 2013 and August 2015, companies around the globe have lost a total of $1.2 billion to this type of scam, according to the FBI. Since then, the number increased by an additional $800 million.
The lost money has been traced back to 108 countries, but it's most commonly found in Africa and Asia. The FBI remains unsure whether the CEO fraud scheme is created by a global ring of scammers.
To mitigate the problem, the FBI encourages companies to be cautious and reach out to the CEO before sending the money.