At Conduit, we know there are some elements that make Automated Clearing House (ACH) transfers safer at the margins when compared to wires, because they are slower and “technically” reversible. However, ACH transfers often get less attention at companies, so are behaviorally more dangerous because they are believed to be safer! Criminals don’t care and…

One of the most well-known examples of how checklists can save lives comes with Captain Sullenberger. Even after a flock of birds took out both of his plane engines, he still made time to look at his Quick Reference Handbook to follow the steps in order to land the plane as safely as possible. If…

A recent ruling in a Minnesota District Court distinguished between social engineering and computer fraud. Most important for your business: understand your coverage and the pitfalls. In summary, the victim in this case fell for a garden variety Business Email Compromise (BEC) based wire fraud. Like many of the victims Conduit has worked with, this…

If you have heard of or seen some of its work already, DALL-E-2 is an AI artist that creates original art in seconds from a descriptive sentence. After DALL-E-2’s “Last Selfies on Earth” made news this month, I decided to see what the AI would produce for a victim of wire fraud. My Artistic Critique…

Not all verification phone calls are the same. Learn the importance between an outbound versus inbound call.

            Given a low likelihood of recovery, wire fraud is severely underreported.  Since nearly all perpetrators are located outside of the US, criminals get your money with few repercussions.  This does not mean, however, that these criminals are unstoppable. They tend to follow trends: one example is increased fraud attempts around national holidays.  Holidays provide…

Brief History Most people are familiar with the “Nigerian Prince” scams of the 1990’s.  What many don’t realize is that these “419” scams are the precursors to today’s business email compromise (wire fraud) scams.  While the geography of wire fraud has greatly expanded over the last few years, many wire fraud criminals are still located…

Traditional bank robberies are rapidly declining, given the low success rate for criminals. Cyber-crime, especially business email compromise (BEC) to conduct wire fraud, is the easier method for criminals to steal

Ransomware is in the news, but you will start hearing more about wire fraud, initiated through Business Email Compromise (BEC). On a risk/reward basis, we believe that wire fraud is most likely to be the focus for cyber criminals in the near term. Driven mainly by business email compromise (BEC), wire fraud leads to immense…

One of our favorite financial authors, Matt Levine, wrote an article about a large wire fraud.  The story he tells highlights the need for workflow automation, accountability, and transparency to supplement existing wire processes.