BUSINESS PEOPLE BEWARE OF FRAUDSTERS HACKING YOUR EMAILS

IF YOU ARE A SMALL, MEDIUM AND MICRO BUSINESS PERSON BEWARE OF EMAIL FRAUDSTERS I was nearly taken for a ride by a fraudster who had hacked the email of a Tongaat business person who specialises in awnings. I want some work to be done at my place in Ottawa and I invited this business person to give me a quotation. After visiting the home, the business person sent me a quote by email. I wrote back to him and said I will make a deposit as soon as possible. Then, the next thing I received the following message: “Hi Good morning,I receive a message from my bank. that my banking details is currently undergoing update,Please you can make payment to my other banking details below Fnb Account name : Gianne general Trading Account Number : 62599117142 Branch code : 250655 Pleas send proof of payment.I really appreciate doing business with you . Regards Thanks”. I was a bit puzzled but I wrote back to the business person and wanted to know what has gone wrong. I don’t know whether he received this message because he did not respond. Then on Monday (Sept 19 2016), I visited a branch of FNB at La Lucia Mall to include the business person’s account details in my account as a beneficiary. I gave the clerk the second bank details that were sent to me. The clerk looked at me and said: “You know what there is something wrong with this account. There is an hold on this account.” I immediately telephoned the Tongaat business person and informed him that there was something wrong with second account details that he had given me. “What second account details?”, he asked. I informed him that he had sent me the account details in a second email and that I had queried this but he did not respond. “I did not send any second account details,” he said. “I only have one account and that I sent you in the first email.” I then informed him that it seemed that a fraudster had hacked his email and that I nearly became a victim. He responded by saying that he would have to change his email address. The FNB clerk then informed me that he had included the first account details of the business person and there was nothing wrong with it. But, he warned, that because people are allowed to open bank accounts via the internet, there are a lot of people who can easily hack emails of business persons and take their customers for a ride. “You must always be on guard and don’t answer any suspicious emails. Immediately delete them,” he said. I am always careful but this was the first time that I was nearly robbed by an email fraudster. I AM NOW EXTRA CAREFUL. BUT AT THE SAME TIME I HOPE THESE FRAUDSTERS WILL BE CAUGHT AND THEY ARE DUMPED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN FOR WHITE SHARKS TO DEVOUR THEM.