Scam Advisory VIP Club Invoices

Scam Advisory VIP Club Invoice emails

Over the last few days we have received a new kind of scam email sent to the "Accounts" email and pretending to be a conversation between the business owner and a 3rd Party about an Advisory VIP Club which has provided Management Advisory Services. The invoices claim to be from a company located at Address: Cromford Mills, Mill Lane, Derbyshire, DE4 3RQ and are for various amounts over £20,000.

We have received them from Ion Marion and Elena Petre so far, but as there is little of nothing for anti-phishing AI systems to detect, they are slipping through the net.

Both emails we've received have come from US University email addesses, one from MIT.edu and the other from UFL.edu and as they are reaching our inbox rather than scam filter boxes, the emails must be originating from those domains.

Below is an extract of one email, but they are both identical in wording. The email claims to come from a @consultant.com email address, but this is just typed, not an actual email:

Hello,

As requested, please find attached the past-due invoice for Business Coaching and Development, as well as the VIP membership for "business Owner".

For additional details, please refer to the email conversation below. We kindly request that the payment be made today, if possible, as the invoice is now overdue.

Regards,

Elena Petre

CEO | Elena Petre Consulting

Elena.Petre@consultant.com

---------- Forwarded message ---------

From: "Business Owner Name"

Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2024 04:36 PM

To: Elena Petre <Elena.Petre@consultant.com>

Subject: RE: Executive Advisory Membership Service – Elevate Your Team’s Success

Hi Elena,

Yes, I did receive your invoice email, but I assumed a copy was also sent to our Accounts Payable department, as requested during the initial setup and registration. Could you please confirm if this was done? If not, kindly forward a copy to our Accounting Department at accounts@company-domain.name

I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and will ensure the payment is processed promptly upon receiving confirmation.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

There is an invoice attached payable to a personal HSBC bank account which is with a branch in Central Birmingham and includes a company VAT number which doesn't exist. These have been reported to HSBC fraud team, but I doubt anything will be done.

We have informed all of our customers who use an "accounts" team email address, but all businesses should be aware of this as currently anti-phishing and anti-spam isn't picking the emails up