ICC loses $2.5 million on online fraudulence

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has become a victim of a cyber crime involving a substantial sum of money - about US$ 2.5 million - being wire transferred.

While the exact sum involved has not been confirmed, ESPNcricinfo has learned that the alleged scam originated in the USA and happened in 2022.

The route used by fraudsters to commit the financial scam was Business E-mail Compromise (BEC), also known as e-mail account compromise, which the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) describes as "one of the most financially damaging online crimes".

The ICC is tight-lipped about the incident because it has reported the suspected fraud to law-enforcement agencies in the USA and an investigation is underway. It is learned that the ICC Board was updated about the incident last year.

It is not yet known what route exactly the fraudsters took to get the money transferred from the ICC account - whether they had got in touch directly with someone at the head office in Dubai, or had targeted an ICC vendor or consultant. It is also not confirmed whether the transaction was done in one single payment or there were multiple wire transfers.