Fraud in the News

French movie firm should’ve said ‘non’ to dubious email

Million-dollar criminal heists aren’t just in the movies. According to a Nov. 12, 2018, Forbes article by Martijn Grooten, Cinema Chain Sees Bad Movie Script Play Out As It Loses Millions In Email Scam, international movie chain Pathé has become the latest victim of an email-phishing business email compromise scam.

The article reports that Pathé’s CFO received an email believed to be from its French parent company asking for a transfer of 800,000 euros for a business transaction. But the email account belonged to a scammer who used a domain similar to internal accounts. According to the article, Pathé’s CEO and CFO both discussed the strange request but dismissed any doubts and paid up. The cinema giant lost 19 million euros ($21.5 million). Both executives, who were ultimately fired, are suing to reclaim their jobs.

Fraudulent pet food maker in the dog house

According to a Nov. 14, 2018, American Veterinary Medical Foundation journal (JAVMA) article by Greg Cima, Companies to pay $7M for pet food fraud, a large pet food manufacturer adulterated pet food and mislabeled the ingredients.