Email scam: How fake real estate email almost cost SA woman $813,000

Just one small detail in an email has cost a woman more than $800,000 of her savings in a cyber crime scam.

Authorities warn South Australians about scams where one deliberately incorrect letter in an email address could be the trap that costs you hundred of thousands of dollars. Picture: Supplied.

One deliberately incorrect letter in an email address could be the trap that costs South Australians hundred of thousands of dollars as scams are becoming “more prevalent”.

Cybercrime experts have lifted the lid on how the global syndicates work following a dramatic incident where a woman – who asked not to be identified – transferred $813,000 believing she was finalising a purchase of a home.

However, two days after she paid, she realised the money never reached her conveyancer and instead landed in an account created by cybercriminals.

THE SCAM

Carolyne Burge from the AFP-led Joint Policing Cybercrime Coordination Centre (JPC3) said the scam the “Business Email Compromise” scam was commonly used by international crime syndicates.

Ms Burge said the cybercriminals impersonate companies, sending emails to their customers.

“We do see the impersonation of the company,” she told The Advertiser.

“For example, the legitimate business might be ‘bc.com.au’ and then they (the criminals) might make it ‘a.bc.com.au’.

“And because we do everything so quickly and we trust everything that we see, we don’t recognise that very slight change with the email and then the victim is corresponding with the criminal group, not the genuine person.”

Ms Burge added it is broadly common practice for scammers to imitate real estate companies, as was demonstrated with the South Australian woman.

“Criminal syndicates are known to target the real estate area by monitoring the real estate sites to see which properties have been sold – and particularly taking note of the real estate agent,” she said.

“Syndicates also have intelligent detection mechanisms set up to notify them whenever people post on their public Facebook profiles about major house purchases or the like.”

A Business Email Compromise (BEC) is a common scheme used by international crime syndicates. Picture: Supplied.

THE CRIME SYNDICATE

Ms Burge said the syndicates operate similarly to a “crime for service” on a global scale.

The AFP has been able to gain intelligence on the structured nature of the cybercrime syndicates, which compare to a regular “business model”.

Commonly, syndicates will have an onshore money mule, who will transfer the illegally acquired money through a courier service or digital currency exchange, on behalf of other members that are based overseas.

Ms Burge said other members of the syndicate will have a specific role in setting up the scam.

“There will be a person whose role is to infiltrate the email system, there’ll be another person creating similar domain registrations and altering invoices, there will be a person who creates the bank account where the money is transferred to and so on,” she said.

THE RECOVERY OF STOLEN FUNDS

Meanwhile, the road to recover the South Australian woman’s money was a long one.

She made the transfer on May 2023 and after a year-long investigation, the AFP was able to recover $777,000.

However, authorities emphasise that the success of their operation came down to the woman filling an incident report to her bank and police as soon as she realised something was wrong.

Originally published as Email scam: How fake real estate email almost cost SA woman $813,000