Curious to know, last week I emailed a new customer an invoice - the invoice went to their junk email - but the invoice had been changed, someone has intercepted the email and added their bank details they had made a note also on the email that the customer should change the banking details . This invoice was for $45000, our customer paid the $45000 to the newly noted bank details. My invoice was email straight out of reckon accounts hosted. Have spoken to support for 2 hours with a nil reason as to how this has happen, (except, maybe someone from my office changes the invoice template, I am the only person to use the account program!) The incident has now been forwarded to the police,.I am still questioning why reckon invoices are still going to customers junk mail? How do I prevent this happening again. - But also very wary of my existing customers.
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312 Points
Posted 1 year ago
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390 Points
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312 Points
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630 Points
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312 Points
The invoice was sent direct from reckon.
Rav, Community Manager
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91,492 Points
Hi Kathy,
I believe a senior technician has been trying to get in touch on a couple of occasions today but has missed you. Can you let me know an appropriate time for the team to give you a buzz and I'll pass this through.
I believe a senior technician has been trying to get in touch on a couple of occasions today but has missed you. Can you let me know an appropriate time for the team to give you a buzz and I'll pass this through.
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312 Points
now!
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370 Points
Bcc doesn't let you know if there is an intersept with emails. It didn't let me know of the fraud intercept.
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2,736 Points
I was not meaning that BCC will stop fraud - its just another way to ensure there is a track of everything I send from Reckon... The thing with fraud is that, it is always the victim of the fraud that has to prove it before they get their money back.
(Edited)
Gillian, Accredited Partner
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1,506 Points
HI Kathy,
This happened to a QBO (Intuit) file as well. I also know that a fellow colleague has told me they know of this happening in MYOB file as well. The recipient of the emails need to be very careful of the sender address - it can be 1 letter different, but it will not be from the correct address. The only thing that can be done is to issue an email to all your customers saying that any change of bank acc needs to be verified by a phone call.
Scammers are forever coming up with new ways.
Gillian
This happened to a QBO (Intuit) file as well. I also know that a fellow colleague has told me they know of this happening in MYOB file as well. The recipient of the emails need to be very careful of the sender address - it can be 1 letter different, but it will not be from the correct address. The only thing that can be done is to issue an email to all your customers saying that any change of bank acc needs to be verified by a phone call.
Scammers are forever coming up with new ways.
Gillian
SueMax, Accredited Partner
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92 Points
Great tip Gillian,
Pretty much everything can be hacked these days so I'm not sure how the software providers can GUARANTEE sensitive information is not at risk.
Pretty much everything can be hacked these days so I'm not sure how the software providers can GUARANTEE sensitive information is not at risk.
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2,736 Points
Gillian, Accredited Partner
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1,506 Points
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2,736 Points
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120 Points
Rav, Community Manager
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91,712 Points
Hi Kathy,I'll send you and email shortly in relation to the situation you've highlighted here as we'd like to investigate further.If you can please take a look and get back to me directly.CheersRav
Gillian, Accredited Partner
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1,506 Points
Hi Rav,
Interested to know if Reckon have found out any more info on this issue and perhaps how the mechanics work......
regards,
Gillian
Interested to know if Reckon have found out any more info on this issue and perhaps how the mechanics work......
regards,
Gillian
Rav, Community Manager
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91,712 Points
Hi Gillian,
We're extremely confident in the integrity and security of the Hosted platform, however the situation that has outlined here is quite distressing.
We've gathered some information around this specific case from the OP and at this point are currently awaiting approval for further analysis to confirm the output from Hosted.
On a potentially related note, an article I saw recently has some striking similarities which refers to hackers impersonating various businesses through observing their emails -
https://www.smh.com.au/business/small-business/devastating-blow-homewares-business-hit-by-apparent-e...
Its really important to secure all components involved in this process and that includes email accounts, Hosted logins and any other services. If you have a old, short or non-complex password for any services, its best to review this on a regular basis and update them.
Reckon Accounts Hosted will also introduce multi-factor authentication soon which will provide an additional layer of security.
We're extremely confident in the integrity and security of the Hosted platform, however the situation that has outlined here is quite distressing.
We've gathered some information around this specific case from the OP and at this point are currently awaiting approval for further analysis to confirm the output from Hosted.
On a potentially related note, an article I saw recently has some striking similarities which refers to hackers impersonating various businesses through observing their emails -
https://www.smh.com.au/business/small-business/devastating-blow-homewares-business-hit-by-apparent-e...
Its really important to secure all components involved in this process and that includes email accounts, Hosted logins and any other services. If you have a old, short or non-complex password for any services, its best to review this on a regular basis and update them.
Reckon Accounts Hosted will also introduce multi-factor authentication soon which will provide an additional layer of security.
Gillian, Accredited Partner
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1,506 Points
Hi Rav,
Thankyou....
Yes I hear and agree with you about security for ourselves....but the only invoice interceptions that I know about have come about invoices being sent from hosted or online software....so the invoices are really coming from Reckon, MYOB or Intuit.... So just wondering if Reckon had been able to find out anyway that it happens. I have not heard of any invoices being sent from desktop software.....however as your smh info link shows, that would mean the sender emails have been hacked.
I know this is so so hard to track, monitor or fix.......but any awareness could help. I would love Reckon to keep us up to date on anything they find.
I am about to send an email notifying my personal customers in my data file about the scam, and that ANY bank detail changes need to be verified verbally, which I will encourage them to send to all their customers and then send on down the chain as well. Like Davo above, we all need to now put in additional processes to protect out businesses. And update those processes each time a new scam is discovered.
On that note - wonder if there is customer/community benefit in informing Reckon users of the scam. I understand Reckon would not want to cause any concern for online product use....but there are many out there who would not have even heard of this scam and probably be grateful of being on the front foot.
Gillian
Thankyou....
Yes I hear and agree with you about security for ourselves....but the only invoice interceptions that I know about have come about invoices being sent from hosted or online software....so the invoices are really coming from Reckon, MYOB or Intuit.... So just wondering if Reckon had been able to find out anyway that it happens. I have not heard of any invoices being sent from desktop software.....however as your smh info link shows, that would mean the sender emails have been hacked.
I know this is so so hard to track, monitor or fix.......but any awareness could help. I would love Reckon to keep us up to date on anything they find.
I am about to send an email notifying my personal customers in my data file about the scam, and that ANY bank detail changes need to be verified verbally, which I will encourage them to send to all their customers and then send on down the chain as well. Like Davo above, we all need to now put in additional processes to protect out businesses. And update those processes each time a new scam is discovered.
On that note - wonder if there is customer/community benefit in informing Reckon users of the scam. I understand Reckon would not want to cause any concern for online product use....but there are many out there who would not have even heard of this scam and probably be grateful of being on the front foot.
Gillian
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390 Points
You are correct Gillian. The fraud that happened to me was my emailed invoice from Reckon was hacked and they changed my bank details. My question is if I send out emails to my customers requesting a phone call if bank details are changed, then the hackers will either change that information or delete it completely. We are still not safe.
I have had a total overhaul of my security (at a considerable cost of course) and I am a very small business, no employees at all. I am unable to retrieve my money lost because of the hackers and I can't ask the customer to pay again. I would like to see a specific Company/Department/Body in place for businesses that have been affected like so, especially when we have print off proof of the changes and emails. As I have experienced, it is only dealt with the fraud department of the banks and it is at their discretion as to whether they will pay or not.
I have had a total overhaul of my security (at a considerable cost of course) and I am a very small business, no employees at all. I am unable to retrieve my money lost because of the hackers and I can't ask the customer to pay again. I would like to see a specific Company/Department/Body in place for businesses that have been affected like so, especially when we have print off proof of the changes and emails. As I have experienced, it is only dealt with the fraud department of the banks and it is at their discretion as to whether they will pay or not.
Gillian, Accredited Partner
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1,506 Points
HI Catherine,
As it was the Reckon email that was intercepted, it is unlikely that your email account has been compromised from my understanding. However....if it makes you feel more secure, then perhaps a 'snail mail' (posted letter) letter to customers.
Gillian
As it was the Reckon email that was intercepted, it is unlikely that your email account has been compromised from my understanding. However....if it makes you feel more secure, then perhaps a 'snail mail' (posted letter) letter to customers.
Gillian
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390 Points
Gosh I will never get paid.......
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312 Points
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230 Points
Hi Kathy, I am a Reckon Hosted user and have just read the conversation and sorry to hear of the problems that you experienced.
One thing that is not clear to me, (I might have missed it but not sure) but was it only the email to the new client that was "doctored" with the fraudulent bank details, or was the actual pdf invoice itself "doctored", or both?
Regards,
One thing that is not clear to me, (I might have missed it but not sure) but was it only the email to the new client that was "doctored" with the fraudulent bank details, or was the actual pdf invoice itself "doctored", or both?
Regards,
Gillian, Accredited Partner
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1,506 Points
HI Mark,
I know this was directed to Kathy, but my experience of the Intuit interception and knowledge of the MYOB interception is that the pdf email attachment is 'doctored' as well as the email. in my case it went some thing like.... email said: please ignore the previous invoice emailed as we have now changed our bank details. Please see amended invoice attached with correct details......then when you open pdf it is your invoice perfectly with diff bank details where you normally put yours.
It all looks very legit........only thing just carefully peruse who the email comes from - it is not correct but could only be 1 character wrong...eg my clients email address had 2 t in ltd so it looked like lttd.com.au - and with the rest of email address correct it is hard to detect in our busy lives!
Gillian
I know this was directed to Kathy, but my experience of the Intuit interception and knowledge of the MYOB interception is that the pdf email attachment is 'doctored' as well as the email. in my case it went some thing like.... email said: please ignore the previous invoice emailed as we have now changed our bank details. Please see amended invoice attached with correct details......then when you open pdf it is your invoice perfectly with diff bank details where you normally put yours.
It all looks very legit........only thing just carefully peruse who the email comes from - it is not correct but could only be 1 character wrong...eg my clients email address had 2 t in ltd so it looked like lttd.com.au - and with the rest of email address correct it is hard to detect in our busy lives!
Gillian
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370 Points
Hi Gillian,
In my case, everything was exactly like my emails with no differences. I have the print offs from the customers. The content asked the customers to bank into a different account as the original account was undergoing an audit. That should have been enough for the customers to ring me but because it all looked legitimate they just paid the account. They didn't anything was wrong until I rang them for payment.
In my case, everything was exactly like my emails with no differences. I have the print offs from the customers. The content asked the customers to bank into a different account as the original account was undergoing an audit. That should have been enough for the customers to ring me but because it all looked legitimate they just paid the account. They didn't anything was wrong until I rang them for payment.
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312 Points
And that is the problem every thing looks legit..although my abn had been pushed down onto a second page, but the client was new so probably would not have known any difference, the email ha also stated please update our new banking details.
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230 Points
Ok, thanks ladies for the additional information. It appears a brand new pdf was created by the fraudster.
I am glad I am aware of the issue as I can be alert to the risk in the future.
It would be interesting to hear the results of the investigations in due course if possible, as to how the interception occurred. By investigations I mean police as well as Reckon as transparency is critical in circumstances such as this.
I am glad I am aware of the issue as I can be alert to the risk in the future.
It would be interesting to hear the results of the investigations in due course if possible, as to how the interception occurred. By investigations I mean police as well as Reckon as transparency is critical in circumstances such as this.
