Palmer said she no longer looks for jobs advertised on web sites.
Unwitting money mules aren't the only ones to have gotten wake-up calls in the new world of bank cybercrime. Customers sometimes find their friendly bank has become an adversary, quoting the fine print of account contracts about who is responsible for what.
On May 7, 2009, cyberthieves hacked into the bank account of Patco Construction Inc., based in Sanford, Maine, and initiated a series of wire transfers totaling $56,594. Some transfers bounced back, causing Ocean Bank to send owner Mark Patterson a routine return notice via the U.S. Postal Service.
Transfer Money
Over the next several days, the crooks continued to transfer money out of Patco's account, removing almost $500,000 before Patterson received the mailed letter from Ocean Bank. The bank eventually recovered a portion of the transfers, leaving Patco with a loss of $345,444, according to Patterson.
Patterson said Ocean Bank rebuffed his attempts to reach a settlement, so in January 2010 he sued. He argued the bank should have done a better job monitoring the company's bank account. Ocean Bank argued that its protections were "commercially reasonable," in keeping with general guidance issued by the U.S. banking industry in 2005.
In May, a federal magistrate judge in Portland, Maine, found for Ocean Bank, now known as People's United Bank, a unit of Bridgeport, Connecticut-based People's United Financial Inc.
"We're hopeful the court will affirm the magistrate's decision," said Brent DiGiorgio, a spokesman for People's United, referring to a pending appeal.
Infuriated
That decision infuriated Woodhill, who co-founded Authentify, a cybersecurity firm, in 1999. He is trying to change the law governing liability in hacking cases.