A new scam targeting emails and business is being reported in central Ohio.
In the last 12 months in Ohio, the FBI says this email scam, known as "Business e-mail compromise," has resulted in losses of about $5 million.
FBI agent Dan Leeper says few know about the senders of emails they receive.
"Typically a spoofed email appears to be legitimate from a trusted source that the victim knows," he said.
The FBI says those spoofed emails look exactly like legitimate messages. It's a ploy to get you to click on it and that's when the scam begins.
"On the national level there's been a 1,300 percent increase in these reported frauds since January of 2015," said agent Leeper.
The BEC scam is defined by the FBI as a sophisticated scam targeting businesses working with foreign suppliers and or businesses that regularly perform wire transfer payments.
One of the biggest targets is the real estate market where electronic money transfers are a way of business.
Scott Stevenson is the CEO of Northwest Title. He's company was targeted by a business email scam, but the electronic snoops didn't get his client's money thanks to security software.
"Some of the emails we are receiving look as though they are coming from a real estate agent," said Stevenson.
Once these computer scammers are inside your computer, they secretly watch to see if you are ready to make a payment to someone. Because the emails are often an exact copy, consumers think they are sending money to a bank but in reality, it's going into the crook's bank account often in a foreign country.
"As soon as they see a closing is about to take place then they are sending emails to the consumer or they are sending emails to the title agency and posing as one of the parties," said Stevenson.
Stevenson said he knows of people who expected to see a check only to realize later it was sent to the crooks.
"We can't trust those emails anymore," he said.
The FBI said consumers should never click on unsolicited emails because there's a good chance it's just an excuse for crooks to slither inside your computer, and steal whatever they can find without you knowing.