Risk & Business Magazine Lovitt & Touché Fall 2015 | Page 8

Impersonation Fraud It Could Happen to You! BY: DENNIS M. TSONIS, CPCU, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, LOVITT & TOUCHÉ I mpersonation fraud is nothing new. Everyone has heard of the Trojan horse myth. While computers offer greater means to control and automate many processes, when it comes to electronic communications, such as email, they allow criminals the ability to easily impersonate someone of authority to trick you into willingly letting them past your built-in security. A world-wide trend is occurring where businesses are being targeted by organized fraudsters in a number of impersonation scams. According to the Association for Financial Professionals 2014 Payments Fraud and Controls Report, 62% of organizations in the United States were exposed to actual or attempted payments fraud. Some cases have resulted in multi-million dollar losses and pose significant threats to businesses that fail to take measures to protect themselves. This type of threat is also known as “Social Engineering Fraud,” which is defined as a non-technical method of intrusion hackers use to gain access to buildings, systems or data by using the art of psychology to exploit human interaction and often involves tricking people into breaking normal security procedures. It is one of the greatest threats that organizations encounter today. Impersonation Fraud typically takes two forms: 1) Fake CEO Scams or 2) Vendor/ Client Scams. A “Fake CEO Scam” is when ѡ