Whitfield & Crane Freezes $12 Million in Business Email Compromise Funds Within 36 Hours
Press Release
A multinational manufacturer wiring $12 million to what it believed was a long-time supplier’s updated bank account discovered within hours that the payment instruction had been fraudulent. Whitfield & Crane’s 24-hour response desk froze the funds within 36 hours.
The funds had already moved through two correspondent banks by the time the first freeze landed. The firm’s rapid-response protocol — simultaneous recall requests, preservation letters and emergency injunctions — prevented further dissipation.
“The first 48 hours decide whether a BEC victim gets their money back,” said Sarah Lindqvist, who leads the firm’s response desk. “We have frozen funds in 30 countries, and we train on these cases the way emergency rooms train on trauma.”