Does your business make electronic payments or receive electronic payments? If so, please read the following so that you may avoid getting scammed.

Modern thieves are getting very sophisticated. They are finding ways to hack into business email accounts. They scan for bills and invoices being sent by email. Then they quickly create domain names with an extra letter or slight changes which are hardly noticeable from the original senders domain name. Then they send one or more email messages to the recipient of the invoice appearing to be from the original sender. They use AI to make the messages have the same "tone" as the original. Typically it starts with a message requesting the timeline for payment. This is followed by a message saying the payment instructions have changed and payment should be made to the new account. This will be a new and temporary account where they can quickly sweep the money out. Sometimes they use innocent people to help them set up the accounts. This is real and it is happening every day.

How do they hack the emails? One way is to pose as tech support for software companies like Microsoft or Intuit. They then pretend they need to have remote access to your computer. While pretending to be helping you, they are gathering data and hacking your email without your knowledge, setting email forwarding rules, or adding some sort of hidden spyware on your computer.

This message is to alert you to the risk; it is not to give advice on protection. But here is some advice. Change your passwords and make them long and random. Tell the folks who handle your accounts payable and also tell your customers, NEVER change payment information without calling the recipient and verbally confirming the instruction. It can happen to your customers without your knowledge and it can happen to you on your payables. The crooks often send you modified invoices and letters on letterheads of your vendors. If your payment instructions are on your invoice, they will scrub your instructions and change them and resend. They are very good at what they do and it works because electronic payments are quick and done.

Make certain your people are diligent regarding online customer support and payment change requests. It has been suggested that with all of the outsourcing of software support, some of the technicians have been compromised by organized crime and may be helping you and stealing from you at the same time.