By PAUL O’DONOGHUE, Senior Correspondent
THE UK’s NECC (National Economic Crime Centre) has issued an Amber Alert to financial institutions warning of Payment Diversion Fraud.
The organization said this occurs when a fraudster seeks to “socially engineer a victim”. They do this by “diverting a payment from its proper location to an account controlled by the criminal”, the NECC said.
“Fraudsters use compromised email accounts to replicate the style and content of business communications. [This is] to deceive a victim into believing a request is legitimate.”
The organization, which is part of the UK’s NCA (National Crime Agency) shared the alert with members of the NECC Public Private Partnership. It added that the alert “is not publicly available”.
In a statement, the NECC said the Amber Alert “details the processes used in payment diversion offences”.
It also said: “[it covers] the methodologies used by fraudsters to identify and compromise victim accounts. And opportunities for prevention and mitigation against future attacks.”
The Alert is part of Project WINTERPROOF, an initiative led by the NECC targeting international fraud.
“An estimated 70% of frauds experienced in the UK have an overseas link,” the NECC said.
“The NECC continues to build and strengthen partnerships with international law enforcement to increase our ability to prevent fraud and reduce the impact to UK victims.”
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