Criminal investigation

As Israel-based financial fraud soars, police swoop on 20 suspects as part of global, FBI-led sting

...The arrests are part of an ongoing investigation by police fraud officers, in conjunction with the FBI, that the Israel Police has dubbed “Case 278: Social Engineering.”

In the information security world, the term “social engineering,” refers to the psychological manipulation of people into performing actions or giving away secret information. The suspects allegedly approached companies, including insurance companies, banks and pension funds abroad, and impersonated senior executives of those companies. They spoke to mid-level employees of the companies and led them to believe they were being entrusted to handle a large financial transaction on behalf of the company, but one that had to be treated with the utmost secrecy. The mid-level employees were then instructed to wire money from the company’s corporate bank accounts to bank accounts controlled by the alleged fraudsters.