Puerto Rico government agency suffered phishing

It turns out that the Puerto Rican government was sending more than 2.6 million dollars to fraudulent groups. It was attributed to phishing fake emails disguised as changing bank accounts used for government activities. Puerto Rico Treasury Secretary Reuben Rivera announced that a government agency sent money to the bank on January 17 when it received a bank account change email notifying them of a business transfer. How it turned out to be a phishing scam, what business budgets this resulted in, and what jobs were threatened were not disclosed.

There have been some cases of ransomware damage that demands money to unlock computers by hijacking computers with malicious codes attached to emails. However, it is a rare case that the government is caught in phishing scams.

Puerto Rico’s Economic Development Minister Manuel Laboy said he is investigating the cause of the phishing scam and continuing efforts to recover the funds deposited. In Puerto Rico, the recession is prolonged and some administrative service cuts are occurring. In such a place, this mistake may be a major blow to the government in terms of financial and reliability.

Phishing emails are sent to anyone, not just companies or institutions. This incident shows that it can happen to anyone with just a little carelessness, not a disability across the river. Related information can be found here .