Email scam has costs airline millions of dollars
As individuals, we all know we have to keep our wits about us when we’re online. If you’re really unlucky, a couple of ill-considered clicks or downloads could quickly ensnare you in a scam that ends up costing you hundreds of dollars, possibly more.
But if you’re working for a company and your job is to make big payments to other businesses, the stakes are much higher. And yes, even global players can get caught out.
Take Japan Airlines (JAL). This week the international carrier admitted it had fallen victim to an email scam that cost it a not-insignificant 384 million yen (about $3.39 million).
Known as “invoice redirect” or “business email compromise,” it seems that at least one JAL employee was tricked into making several payments to bogus bank accounts. One account purported to belong to a U.S. financial services company which had been leasing a plane to the airline, but it had in fact been set up by fraudsters, the Japan Times reported.