Last week, the U.S. subsidiary of Japan’s largest financial media organization, Nikkei, made headlines for the reason that no firm ever wants: The company was the victim of financial fraud to the tune of $29 million via a wire transfer gone bad.
Details are still emerging, but what is known thus far is that the transfer took place sometime in late-September, and was based on “fraudulent instructions by a malicious third-party who purported to be a management executive of Nikkei,” according to a statement by the company.
Some of the information coming out of the Nikkei situation — David Barnhardt, chief experience officer at GIACT, told Karen Webster — is pretty head-turning. The amount of money stolen is certainly a big hit. Yet, what is unusual is the fact that the fraudsters didn’t just imitate a management executive in a phishing email, but physically emulated the sound of his voice over the phone.