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.

THIS!

Be factual. The important outcome is the whole company / system getting it right in future not you martyring yourself.

You’re not stupid at all. People at my work have done worse. One made an error which resulted in a company wide hack. She’s still employed and was just given training. We’ve also had quite bad data breaches. All are seen as learning exercises so mistakes aren’t made again.

You realised your error, flagged it and corrected it. At my company this would be seen as a positive thing and something no one else will do again.

This is true. And it doesn’t have to be a drop the buyer in it. Purely factual timeline.

But they didn’t… they have processes and sounds like they were not followed.

rule 101 - never change bank account details because they appear on an invoice or via email. Use a ‘known good number’ at least and speak to a known contact.

Well if wasn’t your boss who didn’t follow company procedure, so not sure why you’re mentioning that he can never do wrong.

He was wrong to call you stupid but I’m not an account and even I know you verify any account changes over the phone. Mistakes happen to all of us, but he’s not the one who caused the issue here.

I can't actually work out who has emailed you to say the bank details changed, and who was supposed to get verbal authorisation and who OP was actually supposed to call.

Is the buyer in on the scam? They are the one creating pressure, who I think is supposed to check the payment details and conveniently wouldnt answer your calls

It is a very common workplace scam and is the main example in the regular scam awareness training we get at work. Generally people in accounts are very aware of it.

But he still shouldn't have called you stupid.

You apologise and figure out exactly what happened with your boss so it can’t happen again.

You did make a payment without the details being checked - regardless of who was required to check them. It was a stupid thing to do which you are going to have to acknowledge and ensure doesn’t happen again.

Is there a possibility that the buyer was doing something fraudulent? Seems strange you now can’t contact him. It’s not about getting anyone in trouble but if you value your own job you need to be fully honest and transparent with the process. We all make mistakes.

Ah they tried this scam at the small business where I work a few months back and I think the banks anti fraud team detected it and phoned the CEO.

Do you work at a small business with an offsite book keeper by any chance?

It sounds like something slipped up between admin and yourself. It's a learning point for you to ask them next time directly 'has verbal agreement to the change been made'. In this case I would take the paper trail to show exactly what happened and maybe already have thought of an upgraded process that will ensure this doesn't happen again.

I presume OP should of had some confirmation that the call had been made so ok to go ahead

so she went ahead without confirming the called had been made nice try but it’s still on her

You didnt follow the processes in place to protect against this scam. Stupid is not professional language but I would expect words to that effect tbh.

Double authorisation at the bank would not have prevented this. I would such Canadian admin should state "bank details confirmed" if they have checked, if not you must always check.

Every time I transfer money from my personal bank account, even if it's £50, you're warned to specifically watch out for any sense of "urgency" as it's likely to be a scam. I'm surprised that with 35 years' experience this has bypassed you. Also do you not receive training?

Glad you could recall it though, so no real harm done, and you'll have to take it on the chin as to what your boss does. Do NOT ever let him call you names, though. You made a mistake.

I received and signed for a delivery at work once, around 80 items. Not my job but the finance and acquisitions officer who ordered it was nowhere to be found. An item was missing, item was around 2k but I had signed for it. They changed the procedure to two people having to check items. I didn’t get in trouble, not sure if finance officer did and I did not care.

You need to relay exactly what happened as in your further post. If some random Canadian gets a warning what is it to you? You still have the fact you didn’t confirm so it’s on both of you really.

I used to have to check drugs that were going to anaesthetise patients, very strict protocols at play there. I love a procedure and always abide to the letter. It’s purely for self protection.

If it was a phone call then cyber insurance won't cover it as there's nothing cyber about it. The OP dies day they recalled the payment successfully.

Cyber includes scams via various methods. It also includes staff training in order to ensure cover going forward when there has been a breach.

You made a mistake and did not independently verify the bank details. You are lucky you were only called stupid and not given a formal warning on the spot or removed from the banking process going forward.
Given the details you have given, your company needs to investigate the buyer, them putting pressure on makes me think they are involved. I hope you learn from this and are more careful to follow process in the future.

Wrong of them to call you stupid but as you said it's a massive mistake. It's possible to check the validity of a bank account on-line in most cases, that should be part of the process. If not then calling the bank to check the name on the account as well as calling the supplier themselves (someone's they'll have called a few weeks before to change the phone number).

This is such a basic scam… I’m surprised more people don’t realise this.

Oh, I see the OP's boss has got himself a Mumsnet login.

I don't think it's dropping anyone else in it if you just explain the whole process of how this happened.

If someone else also did something wrong/didn't follow procedures, that's relevant to why you did what you did.

Sounds like everyone involved needs to be reminded that procedures are there for a reason and must be followed.

The name calling is completely inappropriate but sadly we've probably all had a boss like that...

Yes agree so many people think it’s sophisticated. It’s one of the most common scams involving businesses and OP should be more worried about losing her job than being called stupid.

You made a mistake because you didn't follow policy. At least it was sorted. Just apologise and say it won't happen again.

I once signed off a £25000 invoice without checking the source, it had been posted to my department in error so for a while we thought it was a scam until we found it was a legit bill sent to wrong department.

Just trying to make OP feel a bit better although in my case I wasn't called stupid or even told off, whole company was quite slap dash about these things.