Hello York! Despite the freezing weather, hackers are still doing their best to breach the security of you and York University. Wire fraud is one of the ways hackers attempt to get at your personal information, and more specifically your wallet.

 

The goal of wire fraud is to convince the target (namely, you) to make a wire transfer of a large sum of money towards the hacker's account. This most often involves the hacker impersonating someone trusted and instilling a sense of urgency in their target. Two common examples of wire fraud tend to go about like this:

1. The hacker will impersonate a CEO/another high ranking employee, and claim they are in need of an urgent wire transfer for an unexpected company related expense. This will most likely be done through email, as other methods of communication may leave traceable information.

2. The hacker will email a person holding a position with access to company/client funds, impersonating a client. They will then attempt to pressure the employee to withdraw their funds/transfer them onto a different account.

Once these hackers acquire the money, they will often cut contact or continue their impersonation, claiming the issue is resolved.

In order not to fall victim to wire fraud, make sure you:

• Know the person emailing you: Verify the person who is emailing is in fact who they say they are. Try and reach them through means other than email, like a phone call. Ask if they were the ones to send the suspicious email.
• Check for obvious signs: A typo in the email address or misspellings in the email itself could be giveaways for wire fraud.
• Don't be tricked by the sense of urgency: Wire fraud emails often make it sound there may be severe consequences for not complying immediately. Remember to always be apprehensive with any emails asking for actions involving money.

Stay Safe. Stay Secure.