The Billings Police Department would like area businesses to be aware of an email scam where suspect(s) are attempting to steal money The scammer sends an email to a person within the company stating they need them to send a wire transfer or immediately send a check out for some sort of payment.  The scammer either spoof’s the account or just uses the responsible person’s name in the heading to make it look like it is coming from a legitimate source.  If the person receiving the email responds that they can send the payment, the scammer sends instructions as to the account to send the money to.  Once the money is sent to the target account, it is immediately withdrawn and sent elsewhere, nearly always ending up overseas.  These scams are almost always initiated from a foreign country, so once the money is sent, it is nearly impossible to recover and similarly, it is nearly impossible to “go after” or prosecute those responsible.  The obvious take away on this is businesses that use a lot of internal email correspondence need to be cautious and authenticate any requests to wire or send checks when receiving requests via email.