European Championships 2017 Fraud Event

What Happened Alan Ludkin’s email account was compromised (Alan was sending out all of the invoices) Emails to and from Alan were being intercepted, amended to alter bank payment details and sent on. They still appeared to be sent from Alan’s email address but were in fact coming from elsewhere. A number of emails never reached Alan, the ‘criminal’ created appropriate invoices and sent them back. We were unaware of those bookings. There was even whole email conversations questions/answers going on.

How? Possibly – a ‘man in the middle attack.

Infected by Malware? Yes – that’s very easy to happen if you aren’t very careful. Malware can modify you programmes such as Outlook properties Malware is often in an attachment – Word, Excel, .pdf and more Don’t open attachments unless you know where they came from and check if the email seems suspicious – check – by other means – not email – with the sender. Don’t ever click on a link – again unless you are absolutely sure. People who were subject of the fraud in 2017 also received fraudulent emails with links about their accreditation.

Secure or Not Secure? Emails are NOT secure – they are very easy to intercept Word documents are easily edited So are .pdf files now!!! You used to have to purchase a .pdf writer – but now Word will do it for you!! And create the .pdf for you again.

Suggestions Don’t put bank details on the invoice. However that doesn’t stop a criminal adding information or creating their own invoices! ONLY put your bank details on the website – yes it can be changed but it is harder and more easily recognised if it has been changed Should we agree, as hosting countries that is what we will do and will NEVER put ANY payment details in an invoice? Send invoices by encrypted .pdf files – send password by alternate means – from a second email address or even split between a second and third email address Or by other secure means such as Whatsapp

Thank you – I hope that was useful Any questions - debate