Codiac Regional RCMP Warns Businesses of Ongoing Email Fraud Scheme

May 26, 2026 - Moncton, New Brunswick
From: New Brunswick RCMP

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The Codiac Regional RCMP is warning local businesses of a recurring fraud scheme involving deceptive email communications, commonly referred to as business email compromise or email spoofing.

In these incidents, fraudsters impersonate legitimate businesses, vendors, or clients by using email addresses that closely resemble authentic ones. This tactic, known as spoofing, often involves subtle differences such as a single altered letter, added space, or punctuation mark, making fraudulent emails difficult to detect. This type of fraud can result in significant financial losses for businesses.

The fraud typically unfolds as follows:

• A business receives an email appearing to come from a known vendor or client.
• The sender advises of a change in banking or contact information, such as a new account number or updated billing details, or provides no notice of any change.
• The business is instructed to send payments or products using the “new” information provided.
• Believing the request to be legitimate, the business transfers funds or ships goods.
• It is later discovered that the legitimate vendor or client never made the request and has not received any payment or products.

How to protect your business:

• Always verify requests to change payment or banking information by contacting the company directly using previously known contact details.
• Carefully examine email addresses for subtle differences.
• Be cautious of urgent or unexpected payment requests.
• Implement strict internal verification procedures for financial transactions.

The RCMP encourages any business that believes it has been targeted or victimized by this type of fraud to report the incident to their local police and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, which can be reached at 1-888-495-8501 or online at www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca, or by contacting your local RCMP detachment for assistance.