According to data collated from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and AOVUP, 22.9% of the US workforce works remotely, and this number will only increase by 2028 to half of the country’s workforce. This means that, for employees who are working remotely full-time, they may get to work with people without ever getting the chance of seeing them face-to-face. For cyber fraudsters, this presents more opportunity to hijack not just online working tools and platforms, but also worker identities. To caution people against this, the Securities and Exchange Board of India recently issued a warning against the increasing cases of what they call “boss scam“.
Stolen identity and funds
Work from home and hybrid setups have been a saving grace for most of the workforce population. Not only were they able to save up time and money on transportation, but it provided opportunities to get hired without the usual corporate theatrics. However, comfort also comes with the responsibility for firm discernment. There are a lot of cases when it comes to jobs found online that turn out to be scams, and others that include hefty amounts of personal money lost. Unfortunately, cases like boss scamming are also on the rise, as flagged by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre.
Just as the name suggests, boss scam is an online fraud that involves impersonating a manager or senior executive to trick employees into sending money to the other party. Employees are targeted through different forms of online communications such as e-mail, messaging, and social media. In other cases, malware is used for phishing information and to compromise the devices. Once the guilty party gets access to the accounts, they can manipulate others into sending out funds.
A global concern
Cyber attacks like boss scams are not happening only in India. After all, the nature of online scamming means that it could happen anywhere as long as there’s an internet connection. In the US, companies are facing a surge in cyber attacks. With AI, deepfakes and other AI-assisted cyberattacks could also rise. Already, a case in Hong Kong involving a finance worker at a multinational company was tricked into sending $25 million after fraudsters used a deepfake video posing as the firm’s CFO during a video call. To mitigate this, CyberPeace Foundation suggests employees be vigilant against messages from higher-ups when it contains requests for the transfer of immediate funds through, for instance, unofficial channels or without formal documentation.
YouTube: What is the ‘Boss scam’? How fake CEOs are stealing money from employees | Cybercrime
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Photo credit: The feature image is symbolic and has been taken by Abu Saeid.
Sources: Gidon Levy (Remote CoWorker) / Securities and Exchange Board of India / Reuters / Reuters / Heather Chen and Kathleen Magramo (CNN) / CyberPeace Foundation
