Orlando hospitality business loses $1 million to CEO impersonation scam via hacked email account, with $516,000 recovered by U.S. Secret Service

Summary

A hospitality business in Orlando, identified in federal court records as “M.E.,” was scammed out of a $1 million bonus intended for its CEO. The scam occurred after the company’s Chief Financial Officer received an email, apparently from the CEO, directing payment to a new Wells Fargo account. On February 13, the finance department wired the $1 million to the scammer’s account. Twelve days later, the fake CEO requested an additional $900,000, prompting the CFO to investigate and discover the CEO’s email had been compromised. The CFO alerted the U.S. Secret Service and the company’s IT provider, who found that the CEO’s email had been accessed from Atlanta after multiple failed login attempts from international locations. Federal records indicate that $516,000 of the stolen funds were later recovered by the U.S. Secret Service.