Cyber crimes continue to rise, and big companies are no longer the sole target. The FBI recently issued their 2024 annual report on internet crimes and there were 859,532 complaints filed, totaling $16.6 billion in losses last year. That represents a 33% increase in losses, compared to 2023. The average loss is $19,372, and those numbers only represent what has been reported to the FBI. The actual loss is estimated to be much greater, as most losses go unreported. Fortunately, there are ways to protect your business from cyber criminals, like having secure networks and training your staff to look…
Posts tagged as “Phishing”
Late last year, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a division of the FBI released a public service announcement I-091818-PSA https://www.ic3.gov/media/2018/180918.aspx regarding the practice of payroll diversion by cyber-criminals. This announcement identified employees whose online self-service portal credentials were compromised, typically through a phishing attempt, and the criminal would change the direct deposit bank account of the employee to a loadable debit card in their possession. Unfortunately, once funds are sent to a debit card, the criminal can withdraw them without a trace. I am expanding that announcement to include another case of payroll diversion that we have seen. While…
While one should always be vigilant about suspicious emails, this time of the year I recommend an even heightened scrutiny. It is not uncommon to receive requests this time of the year from employees who have not received or lost their W-2 form, and in the old days, this request came in person. Nowadays, it is not uncommon to receive a request via email that you may fulfill via replying. It certainly cuts down on the time that it used to take to find the employer’s hard copy, photo copy the copy, and mail the copy to the employee. …