{"id":760,"date":"2018-12-01T13:30:03","date_gmt":"2018-12-01T13:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fraud.flywheelsites.com\/boss_email_scam_alert\/"},"modified":"2020-11-09T07:30:43","modified_gmt":"2020-11-09T07:30:43","slug":"boss_email_scam_alert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/boss_email_scam_alert\/","title":{"rendered":"Boss on vacation this month? Beware the employer imposter scam"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the holiday vacation season draws near, many bosses and managers plan to take a few days off to travel or celebrate with family. This creates the perfect opportunity for fraudsters to impersonate them and trick their employees into falling for a costly scam. <\/span><\/p>\n

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The National Consumers League has recently observed a marked increase in complaints regarding the boss imposter scam. In this scam, fraudsters pose as real executives from an organization and ask \u201ctheir\u201d employees to send gift cards or to wire money on their behalf, reassuring them it\u2019s a business request that will be reimbursed. These scams are particularly successful for con artists when they happen to reach an employee whose boss is out of the office on travel, when it\u2019s more difficult for the employee to verify the legitimacy of the request. <\/span><\/p>\n

A complaint we received from a man in New Hampshire is a common example. In this case, the victim was out $1,500. Here is what he told us:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI received an email from what I thought was the owner of our company while he was in Ireland. The email [stated that] \u2018I need you to make a store purchase for Apple iTunes gift cards of $100 face value. I need 15 of each card.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The email instructed the employee to send the codes on the back of the gift cards to the traveling company owner. Unfortunately, these emails can often seem quite convincing with fraudsters able to spoof the boss\u2019s email address. Scammers are also able to identify conferences or speaking engagements that an employer may be traveling to, thanks to promotional materials, in order to perfectly time an email from \u201cthe boss.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The convincing nature of these emails, combined with the hesitation of many employees to question their bosses, makes this scam lucrative for scammers and costly for consumers. The average loss reported to Fraud.org is more than $2,500. When victims use their personal credit card with the expectation of being reimbursed, they may be out thousands of dollars. Fortunately, as the holiday travel season approaches, there are several tips you can follow to protect yourself and your organization from falling victim to fraud:<\/span><\/p>\n