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.

According to the article, Wilbur-Ellis Co., which makes ingredients for several pet food brands, pleaded guilty earlier this year to distributing falsified products. The company is accused of replacing chicken and turkey meal with cheaper products like feather meal and bone byproducts in 2014. The company will have to pay $4.5 million in restitution and $1 million in criminal forfeiture. Also involved in the scam is commodities broker Diversified Ingredients Inc., which will pay $1.5 million in restitution and $75,000 in criminal forfeiture.

According to the article, Wilbur-Ellis management acknowledges a lack of oversight in quality control of its products at the time of the scandal and says it’s working to strengthen protocol.

Lost in translation

A former recruiter for U.S. military interpretation services is in trouble for fraud. According to a Nov. 13, 2018, Slator article by Esther Bond, US Federal Language Services Contracting Hit by Mistreatment And Fraud Claims, Abdul Aman has been indicted for allegedly recruiting unqualified interpreters to work with U.S. forces in Afghanistan. He’s been charged with several counts of fraud for actions that “circumvented procedures” and led to unqualified interpreters deployed in 2011 and 2012.

According to the article, Aman selected acquaintances to test for interpreting jobs. He then referred these unqualified candidates to a U.S. government subcontractor that made the final hire. Aman’s apparent incentive was sizable bonuses. According to the article, Aman received between $250 to $2,500 per candidate depending on how far they progressed in the recruitment.