This article is authored by Stand Out Online Member Denisa Pop, Bitdefender
A Nigerian national has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for robbing people of their life’s savings by hacking the emails of their real estate agents and swapping bank accounts. The story offers a clear example why small firms should take cybersecurity seriously.
33-year-old Babatunde Francis Ayeni, a citizen of Nigeria living in the United Kingdom at the time of his arrest, used a sophisticated business e-mail compromise (BEC) scheme targeting real estate transactions in the United States.
Ayeni and at least two other associates operating out of Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates would send phishing e-mails with tainted attachments and links to title companies, real estate agents, and real estate attorneys across the US.
Captured login credentials
“If an employee at a targeted real estate business clicke…