An ex-Mastercard executive was nearly scammed of $100,000. Here's how she spotted it.

• A former Mastercard executive almost lost $100,000 to an account takeover scam.
• Scammers accessed her real-estate agent's email and impersonated a title company.
• Account takeover fraud surged 354% in 2023, causing $13 billion in losses, researchers say.

It can happen to anyone, it seems. Even those who work in the finance industry.

A former Mastercard executive told Business Insider she nearly lost $100,000 to an account takeover scam last year.

Catherine Woneis, former vice president of CipherTrace, a service owned by MasterCard that helps secure crypto transactions, says she almost lost most of her life savings after scammers accessed her real-estate agent's email.