Sophisticated hackers dupe importer out of thousands
Being an exporter and importer of timber means dealing with customers all over the world. Naturally, this results in email being necessary for the vast majority of communications in order to deal with frequent currency exchanges and customers in different time zones.
More Than Just a Liability Package
While our client’s physical assets were protected against theft under their Material Damage policy and theft by employees could be covered under a Fidelity policy, we realised during our 6-Step Advice Process, that there was a significant risk of our client suffering a loss by electronic theft. We ensured that our client had a full Crime cover as part of their liability package, protecting against theft by employees and third parties.
Hackers Aren’t What They Used to Be
The reality is that hackers are getting much more sophisticated than they used to be. It’s not just a case of watching out for unsolicited emails saying you’ve won a lottery. Our client was due to make a payment to their customer for half the value of a consignment. They received an email, which was a reply to an existing email trail, advising that their bank account was being audited and the payment needed to be deposited into a different account.
What our client didn’t realise is that their customer’s network had been breached and the email was from the hacker. USD$47,500 was paid into the bogus account. A comprehensive analysis of the claim was presented to the insurer and a full settlement was agreed to, less the excess.
In addition to handling the claim, we were able to help our client to implement risk management to reduce the chances of this happening again. Now any requests for changes relating to financial transactions have to have two factor authentication i.e. they get on the phone and check that the information is correct.