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ITMG Insider Threat Cases – November 22, 2021

A Fraudster Paid $160,000 to Recruit Moles Inside Amazon to Help Him Hijack Other Sellers’ Accounts and Products, a New Report Reveals

The fraudster known as Krasr paid off moles inside of Amazon to help him hijack other sellers’ accounts and copy their products, according to company documents reviewed by Reveal and Wired.

Krasr recruited Amazon employees “over LinkedIn and Facebook” and paid them a total of $160,000 over several years, a memo from Amazon’s security team reportedly said. Upon discovery, the tech giant fired seven staff members caught working with the fraudster.

Israel Accuses Defense Minister’s Household Staffer of Iran-related Espionage

Israel has charged a member of Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s housekeeping staff with espionage, saying on Thursday he offered to spy on him on behalf of “a person identified with Iran”, the country’s archenemy.

In a statement, the Shin Bet security service said the suspect corresponded with the unnamed person over social media. It said he provided photographs taken in the house as proof he had access and proposing installing malware on Gantz’s computer.

Tensions run high between Iran and Israel over Tehran’s nuclear program and what Israeli officials describe as its military entrenchment and support of Israel’s enemies in the region.

Pharmaceutical Company Sues Former Employee for Stealing Trade Secrets

The plaintiff is accusing the defendant of engaging in the “unlawful download and transfer of over 1,800 files” that contained the trade secrets and confidential information of the plaintiff. Caraballo uploaded this information onto a personal USB device, an intricate plan the plaintiff asserts he “plotted and commenced execution of… to unfairly compete and cause BioMarin devastating harm, in aid of his new position at BioMarin’s competitor.”

Venn Therapeutics Implicates Competitor in Trade Secrets Suit

The plaintiff had been working on two promising immunotherapy programs for cancer and fibrosis and disclosed this information to the defendant as a means of negotiating a partnership or an acquisition of the company, according to the complaint Venn disclosed information on the grounds that it would not be used in any other means except for business negotiations and “brings this case to stop Corbus’ improper use of its trade secrets and to hold Corbus accountable for its misconduct.”

The plaintiff is alleging that Corbus had been going through their documents for months as only a means to negotiate potential business partnerships, but that it had begun using the information for its own purposes weeks after not moving forward with any partnership or acquisition.

Seattle Woman Sentenced to Prison for Embezzling from High-End Mountain Bike Company

According to records filed in the case, Trower worked as a contract bookkeeper and accountant for the mountain bike company from July 2015 to May 2018. Her contract was terminated when the embezzlement was discovered. Trower used a variety of schemes to steal over $150,000 from company accounts: creating checks using the company software system, forging signatures, claiming expenses and compensation she did not earn, and making transfers from company accounts to accounts she controlled in the names of phony tax accounting businesses. For example, while most employees received at most three checks per month (two for salary and one for expenses), Trower wrote as many as thirteen checks to herself in one month. Trower put false descriptions in the memo line, sometimes falsely claiming the funds were to reimburse her for an outside tax accounting firm she claimed to have hired.  Trower also transferred money from company accounts to accounts she controlled—transferring more than $26,000 to her account in the span of just a few months in 2018. Trower and her boyfriend used the money to, among other things, gamble at area casinos.

Loves Park Office Manager Charged With Fraudulently Obtaining More Than $1 Million From Employer

According to the information, Moore was an office manager for a company in Loves Park that made custom components for a variety of industries. Between 2012 and 2020, Moore fraudulently obtained more than $1 million from the company.  Specifically, Moore issued company checks to herself and her husband’s business from the company’s account, forged the signature of the company’s owner on checks, deposited the checks into her personal bank account and her husband’s business account for her personal benefit, and then initiated online transfers to move the money. Moore concealed these transactions by making it appear as though the checks were for legitimate business purposes and by deleting the company’s records of the forged checks.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 22nd, 2021 at 11:09 pm. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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