Email Scammer Siphons $500K From Bay Area Business: Police

SAN JOSE, CA — A Pennsylvania woman is accused of grand theft after authorities allege she used an e-mail scam to route hundreds of thousands of dollars from a San Jose business to her bank account.

Police identified the suspect Tuesday as Aleida Torres, 51, and issued an arrest warrant.

According to investigators, officers fielded a theft report in January from a business on East Alma Avenue. Detectives determined the victim fell prey to a "business email compromise" scam, where a suspect hacks into a business email account and sends fraudulent payment information to their customers.

In the San Jose case, police allege Torres posed as an employee of a business that the victim was familiar with and requested a wire transfer to satisfy a $500,000 invoice. The victim did not realize anything was amiss until after the transfer went through, police said.

Detectives with the city's Financial Crimes Unit initiated a full investigation, which led authorities to Torres, police said. Police were able to recover $400,000 of the stolen funds, but an arrest warrant remains outstanding for Torres. Anyone with information related to the investigation can contact detectives at 408-277-4654.

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