3 Spooky Cyber Crimes in Current Events
3 examples of social engineering incidents researched via DuckDuckGo search engine.
These are the top 3 relevant social engineering incidents in current events according to Tessian.com’s blog post of “11 Social Engineering Examples” posted May 7th, 2021:
1. $100 Million Google and Facebook Spear Phishing Scam
- Perp: Evaldas Rimasauskas (Nationality: Lithuanian)
- Target(s): Google, Facebook
- Construct: fake company and company bank accounts posing as a computer manufacturer supplying materials to Google and Facebook
- Mechanics: perpetrator’s company “sent phishing emails to [target’s] employees, invoicing them for goods and services that the manufacturer had genuinely provided – but directing them to deposit money into [] fraudulent accounts.”
- Time of incident: 2013-2015
2. Deepfake Attack on UK Energy Company
- Perp: unnamed deepfake scammer
- Target: “CEO of UK energy provider”
- Construct: Even a CEO has a boss… apparently. And bank account of scammer
- Mechanics: CEO “received a phone call from someone who sounded exactly like his boss … convincing” him to transfer money to a “Hungarian supplier”
- Time of incident: March 2019
3. $60 Million CEO Fraud Lands CEO In Court
- Perp: criminal case pending details (CEOs - according to civil lawsuits filed)
- Target: FACC - Chinese (Austrian – according to Reuters) manufacturer of plane (aerospace – according to Reuters) parts, supplier to Boeing and Airbus
- Construct: dubbed the “CEO fraud scam” in which “scammers impersonated high-level executives”
- Mechanics: imposters “tricked employees into transferring funds.”
- Time of Incident: ongoing; initial alert posted 01-19-2016; civil lawsuits against CEOs targeted in attack forecasted to wrap up in 2024 – still 3 years more to even the score
- Heist: $60,000,000 ($47,000,000 – according to Reuters)
*https://www.tessian.com/blog/examples-of-social-engineering-attacks/
*https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facc-ceo-idUSKCN0YG0ZF
*https://www2.cso.com.au/article/600535/ceo-fired-after-fake-ceo-email-scam-cost-firm-47m/