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

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.