Samoa Police have warned that cybercrime is on the rise in Samoa after it thwarted an online attempt by hackers to take money from a government authority and a local company.
Samoa Observer reports the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and a local construction company were victims to unknown hackers who tried to siphon more than $100,000 from each of the parties.
New Zealand Police allegedly alerted local Ministry of Police of the online activities of cybercriminals, which prevented the loss of funds.
Police Commissioner, Auapaau Logoitino Filipo said that NZ Police picked up the suspicious activities when email accounts between the parties were hacked by the unknown party.
He said, the LTA was in correspondence with an NZ firm and was in the process of making payments for major projects.
“Upon review, it was found [that] the hacker got into the accounts and asked to change the account number to make the payments,” said Auapaau.
According to the commissioner, it was the same case with the construction company.
He said, it was difficult to track down the hackers and it was fortunate no payment was made.
Auapaau pointed out cybercrime has become sophisticated with the use of online devices and said that it was time for Samoa Police to seriously consider setting up a cybercrime unit.
