According to an FBI task force, an email scam targeting businesses with sham invoices has pinched more than $214m from victims, overt 45 countries in just a year.
The money lost by victims was calculated from October 1 2013 to December 1 2014 by The Internet Crime Complaint Center, which is a joint initiative between the FBI and the nonprofit National White Collar Crime Center.
In the scheme dubbed Man-in-the-E-mail Scam, fake invoices were being sent to businesses which deal with overseas suppliers, asking for payment by wire transfer.
Till now, the scam has claimed 1,198 victims in the US, with companies having lost $179m.
The task force said in statement: "The fraudulent wire transfer payments sent to foreign banks may be transferred several times but are quickly dispersed."
"Asian banks, located in China and Hong Kong, are the most commonly reported ending destination for these fraudulent transfers."
According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, Business E-Mail Compromise is also linked to other forms of fraud including romance, employment, lottery and home/vacation rental scams which generally targets US based users.
"The victims of these scams are usually U.S. based and may be recruited as unwitting "money mules."
"The mules receive the fraudulent funds in their personal accounts and are then directed by the subject to quickly transfer the funds using wire transfer services or another bank account, usually outside the U.S. Upon direction, mules may sometimes open business accounts for fake corporations both of which may be incorporated in the true name of the mule."
There are different versions of the scam where businesses are targeted using fax or phone that are masked to look like they were coming from a legitimate supplier.
In the second version, high-level executives were targeted using emails, and in the final version emails of employees were hacked to send fake invoices to vendors or suppliers.
