SINGAPORE: The tech equipment marketer company came near to losing more than S$100, 000 (RM321, 584) worth of laptop computers to a scam.
The reseller is now trying to find legitimate buyers for the equipment.
The firm thought that all it was receiving a good order from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) when it got an email from a Daniel Chong on July 18.
Chong, exactly who claimed to be through NTU’s procurement division, ordered 50 Dell laptops, asking the business to deliver them 1st to Penanshin Surroundings Express, a freight forwarder.
And. P. (not their real name), 53, the tech reseller’s co-founder, told The Straits Times : “When we received the email, we did not believe there was anything incorrect.
“Previously, whenever NTU launched tenders requesting laptops, there were always participated. And we thought that we were currently in their list of prospective vendors and that the email was legitimate. ”
It was only when Bernard Chan, 44, director of Penanshin Air Express, well informed him that the buy order was bogus that N. P. realised he had fallen victim to a business email compromise (BEC) scam.
BEC involves the sending of emails apparently from the victims’ colleagues, business partners or even suppliers.
Unfamiliar to the victims, these types of emails are sent by scammers, who may have hacked into the email accounts of these company contacts or that are sending them through spoofed email addresses.
Between January plus June, there were 209 cases of BEC scams reported, along with S$67. 7mil (RM217. 71mil) lost, the police said.
This is more than thrice the particular S$22. 3mil (RM71. 71mil) lost to such scams through January to 06 last year, when 164 cases were documented.
Using one more alias when he or she contacted Chan, the scammer had presented as an employee associated with GP Industries, a Singapore-based battery manufacturer.
But when the particular scammer informed Chan that he would arrange for a courier to pick up and ship the particular laptops to Britain, the Penanshin Air flow Express director noticed it was a scam.
Chan said: “If I am serving just as a collection point, this means that my corporation, which helps business people ship their products overseas, will not be compensated. ”
Right after Chan called In. P, the duo realised that there were other discrepancies, such as how despite the scammer’s claim of being from NTU, his email address did not use the university’s domain name.
In. P. said: “We should have checked the location before shipping away the laptops. It will not make sense for an university or college to ask all of us to send laptops it really is ordering to the United Kingdom, or even to another location in Singapore.
“During Covid-19, i was not doing so well. Whenever we received a big purchase, we wanted to money in. ”
The authorities said that investigations are usually ongoing.
Linda Teo, country manager of recruitment company ManpowerGroup Singapore, said that pandemic restrictions might have prevented employees departing their companies through handing over correctly to remaining personnel.
She mentioned: “Companies and providers that do not retain in regular contact may not be aware of these staff changes, potentially creating gaps in their processes that scammers might take advantage of. ”
Evelyn Chow, managing director of recruiting consultancy DecodeHR, declared that due to the pandemic, numerous employees work from home.
“As this has be a norm, accounting staff are likely to be allowed to procedure payment to exterior vendors remotely, ” she noted.
N. P. plans to put in place a brand new system in his business that will require multiple people to approve every single order, instead of just individuals in the sales department.
He said: “At least the particular laptops did not depart the country, but we have to be more careful at this point. We will spend the following few months training our own staff and establishing rules such as needing a face-to-face conference before orders are usually delivered. ” – The Straits Moments (Singapore)/Asia News System