Hacker attack on Oberauer car dealership - but businessman gets his money back

Oberau - The crooks proceeded extremely cunningly - and with an online fraud they stole 11,500 euros from an Oberau car dealer.

But he got his money back - with the help of a banker.

Christian Fischer never suspected that something might be wrong with the bill.

It was a business process that he has done hundreds of times in online banking.

The operator of a car dealership in Oberau transferred 11,500 euros for a car to a long-term business partner.

After his two-week vacation the nasty surprise: The car was there, but the vehicle documents had not yet arrived in the mail - a sign that the dealer from northern Germany had not received his money.

Recipient's account number changed

Fischer investigated the case and found that his computer had been hacked. The recipient's account number had been changed in the customer invoice. The 11,500 euros had disappeared. Thanks to the quick help of a capable bank employee, the case was cleared up. “I got my money back,” says the 63-year-old with a sigh of relief.

This much is certain: the fraudsters followed the e-mail traffic between Fischer and his partner for weeks. “They were waiting for the right moment,” he suspects. And the hackers took advantage of the hour when it came to transferring the amount of money for the car. The amount did not appear in the account of the business friend. “It was clear to me: I was caught by fraudsters,” reports the dealership owner. The crooks had simply entered a different account number on the bill without being noticed.

Fischer immediately contacted his house bank. And an employee promised to take care of it. Matthias Brandelik looks after corporate customers at VR-Bank Werdenfels. He did not want to give Fischer much hope when he described the case to him. The bank clerk first recognized that fraudsters had logged into the Oberauer's IT system and placed a Trojan horse that allowed them access. “Then they intervened in the e-mail traffic,” says Brandelik. He contacted the Targobank in Düssendorf, where the money ended up in an account.

“Then we were very lucky,” he reports.

Because other banks had already asked the credit institute in Düsseldorf about suspicious developments.

Always larger amounts were received in one account and cleared away quickly.

The suspicion was obvious: It is a fraudulent account.

Brandelik had a hot lead.

Student arrested in Düsseldorf

The account holder was lured into the Düsseldorf bank under a pretext and arrested. At least Fischer then got the money back quickly and was able to make the transfer for the car. So far, so good, but Brandelik waves it away. Only a small crook was caught in the fraud case. "That was a student, the arrested person is interchangeable," he is sure. "The backers, the clever minds are hidden." These have not been identified and can continue to carry out their scams. Brandelik learned from Targobank that it was a gang from North Africa.

The case of Fischer shows that those affected do not expect to become victims of fraud. “A lot of people think it's not affecting me,” says Brandelik. The corporate account manager reports a trend: attempted fraud is increasing. The VR-Bank homepage is currently warning of cyber criminals who can elicit information about online banking, access data, credit card security codes or passwords from customers on the phone. "With these scams it is possible for the fraudsters to make fake transfers."

Fischer is glad that the delicate matter had a happy ending.

The businessman from Oberau has two concerns.

On the one hand, through his story of fraud, he wants to sensitize traders, private individuals and employees in other industries to investigate every suspicion in e-mail traffic and to check again and again whether the account numbers are correct.

“One should be careful,” demands Fischer.

In addition, he has a lot of praise for his house bank.

"In times when staff are being cut and branches are being closed, I am very happy that my case has been dealt with in such a way." Brandelik waves him off again: "I was just doing my job." the "personal ambition" packed and the "sense of justice" driven.