Toyota Boshoku Corporation loses $37 million in Business Email Compromise scam

• Toyota Boshoku’s European subsidiary made a fraudulent payment of roughly 4 billion yen (~$37,472,000) to a third party.
• Following this, the organization has taken the necessary steps to recover the lost funds.

What’s the matter?

Toyota Boshoku disclosed that one of its European subsidiaries fell victim to a Business Email Compromise scam losing over $37 million.

“Toyota Boshoku Corporation announces a recent case involving fraudulent payment directions from a malicious third party that has resulted in a financial loss at our European subsidiary,” the organization said in a press release.

What happened?

On August 14, 2019, Toyota Boshoku’s European subsidiary made a payment of roughly 4 billion yen (~$37,472,000) to a third party. Later, the car components manufacturer became aware that the payment directions were fraudulent.

• Following this, Toyota Boshoku established a legal professionals team and launched an investigation on the incident.
• The organization also reported the financial loss to the appropriate local investigating authorities.
• It has taken the necessary steps to recover the lost funds.

“Recognizing the high possibility of criminal activity, we promptly established a team comprising legal professionals, then reported the loss to local investigating authorities. While cooperating in all aspects of the investigation, we are devoting our utmost efforts to procedures for securing/recovering the leaked funds,” Toyota Boshoku said.