Got scammed and Employer called me stupid

[FidoO5]

Made a massive error at work
I pay suppliers. We had new supplier who emailed to change bank details from original bank details. We usually phone supplier to confirm but it was over and back for a while and it was getting urgent.
I asked them to confirm new details and I sent the payment.
later it was discovered by the original supplier while on phone to buyer that they did not request to be sent to new bank.
My Employer was notified by the buyer and employer said how could you be so stupid.
I broke down and cried when I came off the phone.
I was able to recall the payment but now have to worry about what Employer will do tomorrow. I understand he was angry and annoyed but I am doing Accounts for 35 years so don't think I'm stupid.
I fell for a scam.
Don't know what point off my post is only getting it it in a note makes it helpful
What should I say to Employer tomorrow
If I say yes I made an error his answer is that is not a good enough answer.

Thanks, everyone
Just to clarify as I am in a different country and time zone it is actually not me that rings for verbal confirmation
There is, different buyers and admin in the office in Canada and Admin emailed me this is the bank details for the payment, so I assumed they had the verbal authorisation but as I am Accounts I will not drop anyone else in. It is the buyer that gets the verbal instructions for a new supplier.
The buyer turned his teams, to busy and wouldn't accept my call on what's app
All our internal communication is done via teams or email.
The buyer had sent few emails to get it paid.
If I have a disciplinary I have backup emails to cover why I proceeded with the payment.
Yes I agree with everyone it was stupid of me.

This needs a serious sort out of procedure - if it is not you who calls a supplier for confirmation of change of details then it is the responsibility of the person who is giving you the details to have done that before they give it to you I assume. Are you supposed to actively ask them if they have done it (in which case back to point a - you should have waited regardless of who was on busy - a simple I am not paying this until you have confirmed that you have called to check is fine and should be no issue for someone who has worked there for years) OR are you to assume that whomever gives you the details has checked it verbally because that is what they are supposed to do. We can’t all double check each others jobs all the time so this will simply come down to whether or not you followed company procedure - it isn’t about dropping anyone in it - that’s ridiculous - it’s about who didn’t follow a vital procedure and whose responsibility it was to do that and to check. So tomorrow to your boss (who you clearly don’t like but is not in the wrong here) you need to (in writing) state what has happened and where the error lies. If it is you then you’ll just have to own it, if it’s the buyer then you need to speak up and say that.

This sounds completely different from what you originally said.

Is your company policy that you get explicit confirmation that the buyer (or their admin) has called the company to confirm account changes? So you are a double check that it’s been done? Or is the company policy that the buyer/admin checks and can only forward you the new account when they’ve done that? Because the first of those is really not different from your original, but makes your suggestion of having another check make even less sense.

But the latter is a totally different situation.

Sure. But having two people call up to confirm is the sort of thing you do because you’ve got incompetent people or processes on the front line.

Agreed. Unless a very complicated process, double runs should not be needed.

Note down the order of events and what happened. Highlight where processes weren’t followed by you or others. Suggest ways to enhance security in the processes to be far more robust. Nobody can be ‘too busy’ to follow the process - if someone didn’t do their job then you need to say.

I’m sorry but you were stupid it was hardly a complex scam
VERY easily avoided if you would of checked
you didn’t do your job properly
drop trying to make out your the victim own it face what ever comes learn and move on

"Would of" 😬

Why can't people read any more? The money isn't lost - OP was able to recall it.

@Sodthesystem "Mistakes happen. It's not as if anyone would have expected a scam like that"

Unfortunately payment diversion fraud is extremely common and well known, and absolutely to be expected. My own workplace has a "verify verbally" process for any requests to change payment details. Anyone not following process can expect to be hauled over the coals. Though that wouldn't extend to calling them stupid, that's unprofessional.

You had a basic process to follow and didn’t so yes, stupid. The risk is that you don’t follow other processes and expose the company to more losses.

If it is not your job to confirm the details then you didn’t make a mistake.

Your story has changed quite drastically.

Are you saying it’s the buyer, who screwed up here? They told you multiple times to pay. I just don’t get if they knew about the change of bank details.

She didn't follow procedure! Hence her boss calling her stupid.
She should have rung the supplier back to confirm bank details but didn't.
So yes she was stupid. She's worked in accounts for 35 years so should have known better
The boss has put this process in place to stop any potential fraud, there's no point if you don't follow it.
Not being mean to the op but if this had been legit you'd likely have carried on doing it with other suppliers until this happened

It's quite simple, she should have rung the supplier back to confirm it was genuine but didn't and it turns out it was a scam.
She screwed up by not following procedure

You aren't being serious are you?

Literally everyone who works in accounts expects this type of scam. It's absolute basic knowledge even in your everyday life that you always phone up using a number you've found yourself to check any change of bank account

In all the fraud TV programmes, maybe they dont have the. In Ireland though, they say that using urgency is always to be treated as a red flag

If someone replied like this, when they hadn't followed procedures then I would definitely start disciplinary proceedings.

You knew you had to phone, you didn't . You were careless with someone else's money.

Did you enjoy typing that? 🙄

That poster is correct though. At my last job I sat next to the person who did the phone calls in this type of situation and he was totally rigid about the procedure, it did annoy people sometimes but he was rightly protecting the business

But it is true. The scam wasn't sophisticated, and it is their job to check for things like this, and follow procedure. It was a stupid thing to do.

Everyone makes mistakes, hold your hands up, apologise and refresh your knowledge on procedures.

I agree with this. I work in similar and you didn’t follow procedure. If you hadn’t been able to get the money back you could have been sacked.

While your employer shouldn’t have called you stupid, you should accept that the way you behaved was, given your role.

If I were you I’d get my head down working and keeping a low profile and following processes to the letter.

I lived in Canada for several years and I wouldn’t bother going to HR about the ‘stupid’ remark as you won’t get anywhere unfortunately. Canada is almost as bad as the US when it comes to employment conditions and being spoken to unprofessionally like that - often in front of your colleagues - is par of the course over there unfortunately; sure goes against the country’s nice guy image, eh.

Sorry this happened to you OP.

The company i work for actually sends us mock scam emails for us to keep an eye on and spot, to help us spot a real life one.

Apologise to your employer, maybe advise the process could be more robust in terms of who calls the supplier to verify, and maybe suggest the email scam training to avoid future mistakes by colleagues.

You didn’t follow protocol. That’s gross misconduct. You have been stupid.

I’m editing because if it isn’t your responsibility to call, I don’t see how this is your fault. If you followed the procedure that is.

This shows a massive controls issue which would be picked up by an audit. So I’m surprised especially if more American based and under SOX.

Then that is a whole different issue to the one in your opening post.

The fault lies with the buyer bit with you. You werr following instructions by the people whonshould have verified the bank information.

Collate the evidence and make sure you have an independent witness to any procedural meetings. Union rep or another colleague if possible.

Calling you stupid is disgusting.

We have had similar at my work recently. The scammers had hacked the suppliers email and were able to edit a document. We did call yo verify the details and the hackers were able tonintercept the suppliers phone as well.

The bank will be able to recall the payment and the company should have insurance.

This is not your fault.