Wealth Fund Loses $10 million in "data breach"

Synopsis

In April 2020, the world's largest sovereign wealth fund discovered that they had been defrauded of over $10 million after falling victim to a business email compromise scam during communications about a transfer which was intended for a micro-finance institution in Cambodia in March.

The sophisticated scheme involved spoofing email addresses, fabricating payment information and then directing the stolen cash into a bank account controlled by the attackers. Allegedly the diverted funds were channeled into a bank account in Mexico under the same name as the micro-finance institution.

The delay in detection was linked to the pandemic, the attacker changed expectations as to when the money would arrive by sending the micro-finance company an email falsely attributing any delays in receipt of funds to the COVID-19 lockdowns.

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Analyst

Courtenay Brammar

Experienced global enterprise risk and governance professional. Previously Vice President at Morgan Stanley, Deloitte Risk Advisory practitioner and PRMIA steering committee member in both London and New York.

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