The US Department of Justice announced the arrest of 74 criminals, including 42 in the US, who made millions "targeting employees with access to company finances and businesses working with foreign suppliers and/or businesses that regularly perform wire transfer payments." The June 11, 2018 Press Release entitled "74 Arrested in Coordinated International Enforcement Operation Targeting Hundreds of Individuals in Business Email Compromise Schemes" included a description of these most popular Spearphishing schemes:
"Romance scams," which lull victims to believe that their online paramour needs funds for an international business transaction, a U.S. visit or some other purpose;
"Employment opportunities scams," which recruits prospective employees for work-from-home employment opportunities where employees are required to provide their PII as new "hires" and then are significantly overpaid by check whereby the employees wire the overpayment to the employers' bank;
"Fraudulent online vehicle sales scams," which convinces intended buyers to purchase prepaid gift cards in the amount of the agreed upon sale price and are instructed to share the prepaid card codes with the "sellers" who ignore future communications and do not deliver the goods;
"Rental scams" occur when renters forward a check in excess of the agreed upon deposit for the rental property to the victims and request the remainder be returned via wire or check and back out of the rental agreements and ask for a refund; and
"Lottery scams," which involves persons randomly contacting email addresses advising them they have been selected as the winner of an international lottery.
Given the great success for Spearphising criminals it is unlikely to they will ever leave this space!
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