JPMorgan gets sued by Ray-Ban after failing to catch $272 million Cyber Theft

4 May 2022

Essilor Manufacturing, French manufacturer of Ray-Ban glasses is suing JPMorgan for failing to spot the $272 million transaction that cybercriminals transferred from its New York accounts.

In 2019, Essilor reported that JPMorgan had been made aware of a suspicious pattern of fraud and Ray-Ban are now suing the American Multinational Investment Bank for not being able to spot the “highly suspicious pattern of fraudulent transactions.”

The French manufacturer operates a Thailand-based plant for EssilorLuxottica SA, where the cybercriminals had recruited one of its employees in Thailand to make the fraudulent transaction.

Daily withdrawal limits went up to nine times for several months, and regular money transfers significantly increased from $15 million to $140 million per month. Additionally, Essilor believes that the employee based in Thailand was able to fake authorisations of 243 payments to different shell companies in Asia, at various regional banks in high-risk jurisdictions.

“It is very unfortunate when losses occur with any of our clients as a result of a breakdown of a client’s own internal controls, and Essilor has acknowledged publicly that colluding employees successfully circumvented the company’s internal controls to submit, approve and confirm the fraudulent payment orders,” stated a bank spokesperson.

Essilor Manufacturing sates that JPMorgan ignored the numerous fed flags that should have been raised from the unusual pattern of transactions. The cash transfers were claimed to have all been made in “round dollar amounts (i.e no cents), which was a dramatic departure from prior periods where round dollar transfers were relatively infrequent.” French firm explained.

According to Essilor, they are still left to recover $100 million, however it was said that the methods were “costly and burdensome.”

JPMorgan have declined to comment on the lawsuit with a statement.