Authorized, unauthorized, and in between
Who absorbs the loss often depends on how the payment order was sent. Wires are generally governed by the part of the Uniform Commercial Code that covers funds transfers, which in New York and most states asks whether the bank and customer agreed on a commercially reasonable security procedure and whether the bank followed it in good faith. If a criminal got into your banking platform and sent the wire, that framework can shift responsibility to the bank in some circumstances. If an employee was deceived into sending it, the bank usually treats the order as authorized, and recovery tends to turn on other routes. The consumer protections many people know from debit card fraud generally do not reach wire transfers, which is one reason these losses feel so different.
The first hours after discovery
Call your bank's fraud line as soon as the problem is discovered and ask it to send a recall request to the receiving bank; speed affects whether funds can be frozen before they move again. Report the incident to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center and to local law enforcement, and keep the report numbers. Preserve the email chain with full headers, the invoice, the banking portal logs, and call records. Secure compromised accounts and isolate affected devices from the network rather than wiping or shutting them down, so a forensic review remains possible. Confirm details with the counterparty through a phone number you already had, not one in the suspicious message, and check your cyber or crime insurance policy the same day, since it may require prompt notice.
Recovery routes beyond the bank
When a vendor's email was compromised, disputes between the payer and the payee over who bears the loss are common, and the answer may depend on their contract, their prior dealings, and which side was better placed to catch the fraud. Funds traced to a domestic account may be reachable through a lawsuit and a court order directed at the recipient, even when the fraudster is unknown at first. Claims against your own bank depend on the security procedure agreement and on a time limit for objecting to the transfer. In a first conversation we review the payment trail, the bank agreements, and your insurance, and we discuss which avenues are realistic given how far the money has traveled. We avoid predicting recovery, because it depends on facts that emerge as funds are traced.
