2019-08-14 (incident) · JP · Toyota Boshoku
Toyota Boshoku European subsidiary hit by payment fraud, 2019
Disclosed by the affected organisation.
Toyota Boshoku Corporation announced on 6 September 2019 that fraudulent payment directions from a malicious third party had caused a financial loss at its European subsidiary on 14 August, with an expected loss of up to about 4 billion yen. The company said it realised the directions were fraudulent shortly after the funds left, set up a team of legal professionals, reported the loss to local investigators and was working to secure and recover the funds, but gave no further details to protect the investigation. Security press, including BleepingComputer, reported it as business email compromise; the company did not say who the sender claimed to be.
¥4B (estimate, about $37M; Toyota Boshoku's expected maximum loss as of 5 September 2019 (about 4 billion yen); US dollar figure as reported by BleepingComputer (about $37 million).)
Timeline
- 2019-08-14 The European subsidiary acts on fraudulent payment directions and the funds are sent.
- 2019-09-06 Toyota Boshoku discloses the fraud and an expected loss of up to about 4 billion yen.
Lessons
- Confirm new or changed payment instructions with a known contact before paying, whatever the urgency.
- Hold subsidiaries to the same payment verification rules as the parent company.
- Have a payment fraud playbook ready: legal advice, a report to investigators and an immediate recovery attempt were Toyota Boshoku's first steps.
Scam types: Vendor invoice and payment redirection
Sources
- Toyota Boshoku: Discovery of European subsidiary being subject of fraud (6 September 2019) (Company disclosure, primary, accessed 2026-09-24)
- BleepingComputer: Over $37 million lost by Toyota Boshoku subsidiary in BEC scam (News report, secondary, accessed 2026-09-24)