The discussion around my dinner table the other night centered around a recent fraud incident that affected a good friend. A $34,000 invoice came in with instructions to make a payment on an expected business transaction. Within a few seconds, the email disappeared, and several minutes later, another email appeared. It came from the same sender and all details appeared to be the same. The payment was made.
Several weeks later, the person received a very angry phone call saying the payment was not received. Totally confused, they called the bank to verify that the payment had left the account and that the wire was received on the other side. Turns out, the first email was real and the second was a fraudulent intercept that mimicked the first one exactly except for different wire instructions. Now, their bank will not return the funds since they, as the legitimate account holder, authorized the payment.