In a horrifying scam, the International Cricket Council (ICC) lost around Rs. 20 billion.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has been scammed! The pinnacle international ticketing agency that oversees and regulates cricket worldwide has lost a hefty sum – around US$2.5 million, equivalent to Rs. 20 cores, reports ESPNcricinfo. However, the exact amount of money lost in this online scam is yet to be revealed, but the report confirms that the scam was started in the US in 2022. The scammers used the technique. Business Email Compromise (BEC) technique to transfer funds from the ICC. It is also known as email account compromise scam. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) refers to it as “one of the most financially damaging online crimes”!
What is BEC Scam? In this type of phishing scam, companies or individuals are tricked into making bank transfers money in the belief that they are doing so legally. Scammers use email to trick someone into sending money. “BEC scams are initiated when a victim receives fake wire transfer instructions from a criminal trying to redirect legitimate payments to a bank account controlled by the scammers,” FBI BEC scam explained. Here, the scammer pretends to be a trusted person and demands payment of a fake bill.
How the ICC became a victim of fraud
Surprisingly, the scammers not only scammed the ICC once, but also baseball body has fallen victim four times! Reports say that ICC officials don’t even suspect themselves of being a victim of an online scam. The fraud was discovered on January 18. However, it is still unclear how the scammers transfer such huge amounts of money from the ICC account. Whether they have direct contact with officials at ICC headquarters in Dubai or whether they are targeting any ICC suppliers or consultants.
The ESPNcricinfo report added that the ICC is silent about the incident. “They have reported suspected fraud to law enforcement agencies in the United States and an investigation is underway,” the report added.
