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

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.

Comments

China

[sjbe]

China isn't just any country. This isn't Romania. There are tons of controls on international transactions. Otherwise there would be a giant sucking sound for a month or two and China would be empty of funds.

No it wouldn't. China has huge currency reserves to combat currency speculation. While it's not impossible, it would be pretty difficult to drain China of cash.

This is why property is always super-hot in China and prices everyone out of the market - there's really nowhere else to invest money.

That's simply not true at all. Property is hot in China because they have 20% of the world's population and their economy is growing like crazy. There are other factors in play (including the banks) but the main driver is simply demand from an increasingly prosperous populace which couldn't own land until fairly recently.

Re:Dumb

[Holi]

Our finance department gets this often, for realistic sums, and we do a lot of business with China. We now have a policy that these transfers must be authorized in person.