Norfund Gets Scammed for 8.2 Million GBP
Posted on 05/21/2020
Fraud has been soaring in recent weeks, striking state unemployment departments and large investors. Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (Norfund) has acknowledged that it had £8.2 million pilfered by hackers after they gained access to the state-entity through an email address attack according to online journalist Cyberscoop. The fraud event took place on March 16, 2020. An email that may have looked legitimate requested funds be sent to a foreign account. Norfund was established in 1997 and invests in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Cyberscoop wrote that in this case the hackers spent months inside the system to set up the heist, and that when Norfund thought it was transferring money to Cambodia, it was actually slipping into Mexico. The loan was intended for a Cambodian microfinance company.
It is unknown whether Mexico is the location of the culprits. Norfund has created over 300,000 jobs in sustainable development. Its investments are measured against its own ESG pyramid which lists gender equality and climate action as fundamental goals, with clean energy coming in importantly at the top of the pyramid. Cyberscoop quotes Norfund CEO Tellef Thorleifsson: “The fraud clearly shows that we, as an international investor and development organization, through active use of digital channels are vulnerable . . . We have taken immediate and serious action to correct this.”