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Chinese Scammers Take Mattel To the Bank, Phishing Them For $3 Million (www.cbc.ca)

Posted by BeauHD on from the sign-of-the-times dept.

itwbennett quotes a report from The Associated Press: Mattel, the popular toy maker behind Barbie and Hot Wheels, was the victim of a phishing attack last year that nearly cost them $3 million. On April 30, 2015, a Mattel finance executive got a note from the new CEO, Christopher Sinclair, requesting a new vendor payment to China. Transfers required approval from two high-ranking managers; the finance exec qualified and so did the CEO. The transfer was made. The only thing preventing a total loss was the fact that the following day was a bank holiday. Details of the attack against Mattel come from a report by the Associated Press, investigating money laundering and other financial crime in Wenzhou, China.

5 of 63 comments (clear)

  1. Dumb by 110010001000 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    A simple phone call to the CEO would have confirmed the request was legitimate. But I'll bet the execs all got a bonus anyway that year.

    1. Re:Dumb by OzPeter · · Score: 3, Insightful

      A simple phone call to the CEO would have confirmed the request was legitimate.

      And how do you think ANY boss would feel about being continually questioned "Did you really mean this?" by their underlings?

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    2. Re:Dumb by The-Ixian · · Score: 4, Insightful

      To be fair, if this transaction quantity and type is something you deal with regularly, you can see how you might become lax in your procedures.

      No excuse, to be sure. But I have sympathy for them.

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  2. It is and it was by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If you read the article that is precisely what happened. The Chinese bank froze the funds, and then reversed the transaction.

    There are cases where someone can get screwed out of this happening, but when action is taken quickly it usually can be reversed since everything is tracked.

  3. Re:No they didn't by The-Ixian · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Perhaps you should meta moderate more?

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