Texas-headquartered carbon black company Orion informed investors that it lost $60 million after falling victim to a criminal scheme that resulted in “multiple fraudulently induced outbound wire transfers to accounts controlled by unknown third parties.” 

No further specifics were given, but these schemes typically involve fraudsters tricking employees at a company — often in finance or with access to the executive suite — into initiating a bank transfer of company funds to a bank account controlled by the fraudsters. These schemes can involve the hacking of email accounts used by executives to send fraudulent instructions to staff on their behalf, or even use deepfakes in efforts to trick unsuspecting employees into transferring funds.

The FBI says these scams have become a multibillion-dollar problem in recent years, affecting companies large and small. Luckily, there are simple and effective ways to protect against email scams.