You Just Paid a Fake Invoice. What Happens Next?
The payment has been sent. Days later, your supplier calls asking where their money is. A feeling of dread sets in as you realize the invoice you paid was a sophisticated fake, and the money, your money, is gone.
This scenario is Business Email Compromise (BEC), one of the most financially damaging crimes a company can face. It isn't a technical virus; it's a targeted scam designed to trick your finance team or executives into making fraudulent payments. The attackers are patient, professional, and often study your company for weeks or months after gaining initial access through a compromised email account.
When a BEC incident happens, the immediate questions are always the same: Where did the money go? Can we get it back? And how did this happen?
Answering these questions is the job of Digital Forensics. A swift, professional investigation is your only chance to trace the funds, understand the breach, and secure your company against a repeat attack.
The Investigation Begins: Unraveling the Digital Trail
Once a fraudulent payment is suspected, the clock is ticking. A forensic investigation moves with speed and precision, because any delay dramatically reduces the chance of recovering the stolen funds.
The process involves several key stages:
| Step | Description |
|---|---|
| Step 1: Immediate Evidence Preservation | The first and most critical action is to preserve all digital evidence. This means immediately securing the compromised email account to prevent the attacker from covering their tracks. Forensic specialists create legally-sound copies of mailboxes, server logs, and affected computer systems. This step is non-negotiable; without a proper chain of custody, any evidence found may be inadmissible for legal or insurance purposes. |
| Step 2: Analyzing the Email Pathway | Attackers are masters of deception. The fraudulent email likely appears to come from a trusted source, but forensic investigators dig deeper. They analyze the email’s headers, which act like a digital envelope, to trace its true origin and technical pathway. This analysis can reveal the attacker's infrastructure and methods, providing the first clues in the investigation. |
| Step 3: Following the Financial Transaction | While the digital trail is being analyzed, a parallel effort begins to trace the money. Forensic investigators identify the fraudulent bank accounts and compile the necessary evidence for your company to provide to financial institutions and law enforcement. In a race against time, this information is used to initiate requests to freeze the destination accounts and begin the fund recovery process. |
| Step 4: Determining the Full Scope of the Breach | A professional forensic investigation goes beyond the single fraudulent payment. The primary goal is to determine the root cause and full extent of the compromise. Did the attacker only access one email account? Did they access or steal other sensitive data? How long were they inside your network? Answering these questions is vital to ensuring the attacker is fully ejected from your environment and that the vulnerability they exploited has been closed for good. |
The Outcome: Evidence, Intelligence, and Fortification
A thorough digital forensic investigation delivers three crucial outcomes that a simple internal IT check cannot:
Actionable Evidence for Recovery: It provides a detailed, verified trail of the fraudulent transaction, which is essential for working with banks and law enforcement to attempt fund recovery.
Crucial Intelligence on Attacker Methods: The investigation reveals the attacker's specific tactics. This intelligence is used to immediately strengthen your defenses, train your staff on what to look for, and prevent similar attacks.
A Formal Report for Stakeholders: The final deliverable is a comprehensive forensic report. This document serves as official evidence for insurance claims and legal action, and provides clear, documented proof to your board and leadership about the nature of the incident and the steps taken to remediate it.
When Your Business Is a Crime Scene
A BEC incident is not an IT problem; it is a financial crime that requires a specialist response. Attempting to handle it internally without forensic expertise can lead to evidence being destroyed, a lower chance of fund recovery, and a failure to identify the root cause, leaving you vulnerable to another attack.
This is where the specialized skills of AKATI Sekurity's Digital Forensic and Incident Response (DFIR) team are critical. We have the expertise to meticulously trace financial fraud, uncover attacker methods, and provide the concrete evidence your business needs to respond effectively.
If you suspect your organization has been the victim of payment fraud, do not delay.
Contact the AKATI Sekurity DFIR team immediately to contain the threat and begin the investigation.
