Ubiquiti Networks Inc., an American company that manufactures wireless products, has reported a cyberheist of $46.7 million / €42.6 million in its latest financial report.
According to its 2015 Q2 report, the fraud took place on June 5 this year, and it “involved employee impersonation and fraudulent requests from an outside entity targeting the Company’s finance department.”
No details are given on the nature of the “impersonation,” but this sounds like the CEO scam scheme, also known as CEO fraud, in which a criminal will spoof the communications between two companies or two departments inside a company.
In Ubiquiti’s case, the scam resulted in transfers of $46.7 million / €42.6 million from one of its Hong Kong subsidiaries to bank accounts held overseas.
As soon as the fraud was detected, legal authorities were informed and the company managed to recover $8.1 million / €7.4 million, while also placing another $6.8 million / €6.2 million under a legal injunction.
