How Hydraulic Fittings Wholesalers Can Ensure Fund Security in Case of Email Hacking？

In the era of rapid information dissemination, foreign importers often meet financial losses due to email hacking when conducting transactions. So, how can we ensure that funds remain secure? I will now begin with a real case that happened within our company.

The incident took place in 2014 when both our CEO's email and the email of a hydraulic fittings importer from the United States were compromised and monitored by hackers. This occurred precisely when the customer needed to make a payment for the goods. The customer sent us a message via WeChat requesting our account information once again. However, our CEO did not have any account information saved on her phone. Consequently, upon returning to the office, she sent the company's account details to the customer via email. As you can imagine, the email did not reach the customer's mailbox smoothly; instead, hackers intercepted it midway. They then sent a fraudulent email to the customer, posing as our company. The email informed the customer that we had registered an offshore account overseas and instructed them to transfer the payment to this new account. The customer received the email, arranged for the payment, and also informed us via WeChat that the payment was made, asking us to confirm upon receipt. We responded that we would monitor the payment's arrival.

At that point, neither party suspected any fraud. They continued to discuss arrangements for a meeting in Shanghai. Unbeknownst to them, the hacker was aware of this plan and immediately sent an email in the customer's name, informing us that the meeting might be postponed and suggesting that we remain at the factory instead of going to Shanghai.

Fortunately, due to our ongoing communication with the customer via WeChat, we stuck to the original plan and traveled to Shanghai. After successfully meeting the customer, they asked again about the payment. We informed them that there might be a slight delay and speculated that the payment could come through later that night. Subsequently, both parties discussed further collaboration. To expand the partnership, we mentioned that we were considering using a trade credit insurance from China CITIC Bank, and our company name would be changed to "Ningbo Ningji Yuli Fluid Equipment Co., Ltd.", when the customer saw this new company name, they immediately became suspicious and asked, "Why is the company name different from the account information you emailed me?"

It was only at this point that both parties started to suspect the possibility of being scammed by hackers. They began reviewing their email exchanges and confirmed that both sides had fallen victim to email hacking. The hackers had created an email address remarkably similar to our CEO's email, intercepting our emails while also sending emails to the customer from a fraudulent account. This led to the unfortunate event of the customer transferring the payment to the hacker's account. Immediately, we contacted the Ningbo Bank and explained the situation. The bank assured us that they would contact the U.S. bank to verify the status of the fund transfer.

After an anxious night of waiting, the Ningbo Bank informed us that luckily, the funds had only reached the head office of the fraudulent bank and hadn't been transferred to the hacker's account. Thus, the funds had been successfully intercepted, and no financial loss had occurred.

This is how the incident unfolded. After experiencing this real case of fraud, our company provided the following three recommendations for hydraulic fittings wholesalers to safeguard their funds:

1.Regularly change email passwords to reduce the risk of hacking.

2.When replying to emails, carefully verify the recipient's email address, preferably by typing it anew.

3.When receiving emails about changes to supplier account information, always confirm the authenticity and accuracy of the remittance details through video calls, Tencent meetings, or face-to-face communication.