Fraudulent activity is on the rise worldwide
We are seeing increasingly sophisticated attempts by cyber criminals to misuse the BDO brand in targeting businesses and individuals.
BDO is committed to taking action against any scams involving our name. We urge all clients and colleagues to exercise caution if you receive any unusual messages that appear to come from a BDO firm, partner, or staff member.
Always verify the authenticity of the communication by checking email addresses, website URLs, and phone numbers against official BDO sources. Please note that no BDO entity or individual will ever request payment through a third-party payment platform.
Scams known to misuse the BDO brand
Fraudulent websites
We have seen increasing attempts to defraud the public using lookalike websites designed to appear affiliated with BDO. Our official website is bdo.ca, our BDO Global website is bdo.global, and all other Member Firm websites are accessible from this site.
If a website cannot be accessed through our official site, it should not be trusted. Do not click any links or provide any personal information on such sites.
Recent Example:
We are aware of two lookalike websites - www.BDOglobalforensics.com and BDO-globalforensics.com, as well as similar domains/emails. Fraudsters have used these websites and email addresses in a sophisticated attempt to defraud victims of an earlier cryptocurrency fraud.
These victims were sent emails using the BDO name and logo from a range of individuals who claim to be BDO employees. The sender names we are aware of are “Harrison Sharp”, “David Henney”, “Matthew Green”, “Charles Wagner”, “David Frost” and “Harvey Ross”.
These emails referred to the previous fraud and made clear that they were aware that the email recipient had been a victim of this fraud. These emails falsely state that a BDO firm is investigating the matter and has traced assets arising from the fraud.
The email asks recipients to “sign up” as a client to receive a payout. In the cases we are aware of, these emails were followed up by telephone, putting pressure on the victim to sign up to be eligible to receive any part of the funds allegedly traced.
These emails and calls are not legitimate.
We advise to always check the full sender email address by hovering over the email to assess if it is from a legitimate source.
Impersonation scams
Scammers are using ‘deep fakes’ of senior BDO leaders to commit fraud. These impersonations usually occur through messaging apps such as WhatsApp, and in some cases through phone calls that mimic the individual’s real voice.
If the communication seems unusual or out of character, we urge you to verify the phone number or contact details against official BDO sources before responding.