JOHOR BARU – A company director, here, lost RM6.2 million, believed to be due to business email hacking last year.
Johor police chief Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat said on August 9, police received a report on the case involving a 54-year-old company director.
He said that the losses occurred when the victim received an email from a supplier requesting payment be made to a bank account.
“The investigation revealed that in February of last year, the complainant’s company purchased a machine from abroad for approximately RM6,216,840 and made payment to the provided account.
“The complainant was later informed that the supplier had not received payment and had not sent an email requesting a change in the account number,” he said in a statement today.
Kamarul stated that the complainant had checked the received email and discovered a difference in the sender’s email address, leading him to suspect that his company’s email had been hacked.
He said it caused the company to make payments into another account.
“The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code, and if found guilty, the defendant could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison, can be whipped, and can be fined.
“Johor police advise the public and companies to be more careful when dealing with payments, especially when they receive an email that instructs the payment to be made to an account other than the one normally used,” he said.
Kamarul advises people to first check and confirm with their suppliers, and companies to constantly improve the security of their computer systems. – August 25, 2023