SAIF Members: be aware of Push Payment fraud

SAIF Business Centre has recently heard from a member about a scam which they wanted to warn other members about. This is what happened:

• the funeral director company email account was hacked
• the scammer sent emails to the funeral director clients, supposedly from the funeral director asking that money is transferred to a different account than the one stipulated on the invoice
• When this happens, the client loses the money as the invoice for the funeral director remains unpaid.

This is called a push payment fraud and is described in a Guardian article here. Their advice is: “Precaution, therefore, is the only protection. If details are sent by email, and particularly if they suddenly change, ring the person or company to check they are bona fide. When possible, pay by credit card – or even by cheque, which can, at least, be stopped.”