URGENT WARNING: BEWARE OF FRAUDS DURING PANDEMIC

They have always existed, criminal attempts to obtain information and thereby cause damage. But now that many employees are working from home during the pandemic, tricksters are particularly active:

Last Thursday one of our employees got a call that somehow felt suspicious and it quickly turned out that it was actually a tangible attempt at fraud: a transfer should - urgently - be made, but luckily it wasn`t.

The approach is frighteningly clever: the target company is first researched thoroughly on the Internet. Locations, branches, management boards are explored. By phone, e.g. disguised as a law firm, further information is obtained. Names, responsibilities, telephone extensions, email addresses are thus found out. One or two additional calls under a different identity, e.g. as a potential client, complete the picture. The attack then usually takes place at the end of the week or when the management is out of the office: the caller pretends to be a colleague or his representative and requests e.g. an urgent transfer. This is usually done in a friendly and binding manner at first, but sooner or later with pressure, if not even under threat, in order to circumvent standard procedures.

This is the latest point when, alarm bells should be ringing, as they did with our employee, who immediately informed our IT department as well as our client directly, and thus was able to successfully ward off the attack.

We assume that this is a side effect of the corona pandemic, because many people are currently working from home, where they are on their own and have less opportunity to talk to colleagues or to support each other. So it is all the easier for criminals to obtain information through seemingly harmless calls.

Our appeal to you is therefore: Please inform your contact person at InterGest immediately if a call or email appears suspicious to you. Notify us of your business contacts so that we can identify them properly when collaborating with them. Please do not pass on InterGest names or contact details to third parties without a thorough examination of the person requesting them!

We remain alert on your behalf and always available to answer your questions or provide advice.

Sincerely,
Prof. Peter Anterist