Wire Transfer Scam: Who Should Bear the Loss of the Funds Stolen by the Hacker?
In 2023, businesses and individuals have suffered massive losses of over $2.9 billion due to a scam called business email compromise (BEC). This scheme typically unfolds when hackers compromise legitimate business email accounts and trick victims into redirecting payments to fraudulent bank accounts. If the payer transfers funds to the fraudulent bank account, the legitimate payee remains unpaid. This raises the question: should the payer bear responsibility and pay twice? In this article, we will analyze the development of case law on which party bears the loss when wired funds have been fraudulently diverted by a hacker.