Police recover $16.4m lost by petrochemical company to business email compromise scam
A petrochemical company based in Singapore recovered US$12.8 million after falling victim to a business email compromise scam. The company reported the loss on October 26 after transferring funds to a fraudulent account in Cambodia. Police investigations revealed the scam began on October 1 when the firm received an email from a supposed business counterpart. This email contained revised payment instructions directing funds to a new bank account. The recovery was made possible through cooperation between the police, OCBC, and the Cambodian National Police.
A Singapore-based petrochemical company was able to recover US$12.8 million (S$16.4 million) lost in a business email compromise scam, thanks to the efforts of the police, OCBC, and the Cambodian National Police.In a news release on Thursday (Oct 29), the police said that they received a report from the company on Oct 26, saying that it had been scammed into transferring the amount to a fraudulent bank account in Cambodia.Preliminary investigations by the police's Cyber Command found that the company received an email sent by its "business counterpart" on Oct 1, containing revised payment instructions directing payment to a new bank account.According to the police, the company identified discrepancies in the payment documents, but eventually went ahead with the transfer on Oct 13 after the scammers furnished an authorisation letter.The letter bore its business counterpart's company signature and stamp that lent legitimacy to the revised payment instructions.