The Payroll Scam That Nearly Emptied Our Company Accounts

As the HR manager of a small company, I handle payroll and ensure that employees are paid on time every month. We had recently updated our payroll system, so when I received an email from one of our employees asking to update their direct deposit details, it didn’t seem unusual. The email was polite, professional, and came from the employee’s work email address. They provided new bank account information and requested that their next paycheck be deposited into this account.

I processed the request, following the usual procedures, and updated the employee’s banking information in our payroll system. Everything seemed fine—until payday arrived. The employee came to my office wondering why they hadn’t received their paycheck. I was confused and checked the records, only to find that the payment had been sent to the account they had supposedly provided.

That’s when we realized we had been scammed. A fraudster had hacked into the employee’s email account and sent the payroll update request. The scammer’s bank account now had the employee’s paycheck, and we were left scrambling to recover the funds. While we were eventually able to work with the bank to resolve the situation, it caused a lot of stress for both the employee and the company.

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