Fake payment instruction: Production and industrial SMEs, Austria 2016
After fake emails in the name of the CEO, an employee transferred around 50 million euros to accounts in Slovakia and Asia.
- Incident · 01.2016 · Upper Austria, Austria
- Evidence: confirmed by an authority
- Fake payment instruction
- Deception (social engineering)
As of
What happened
Around 10.9 million euros could be frozen; the fraud weighed on the result to the tune of 41.9 million euros. In May 2016, the supervisory board dismissed the CEO, having already dismissed the CFO.
- Affected
- FACC AG
- Industry
- Production and industrial SMEs
- Loss
- around EUR 50 million (of which 10.9 million frozen)
- Business interruption
- unknown
- Ransom demanded / paid
- unknown / unknown
- Data affected
- unknown
- Bankruptcy
- no
- Entry point
- Email with the CEO as the supposed sender («fake president»)
What would cyber insurance have paid?
That depends on the terms. Whether those affected were insured: unknown.
-
CEO fraud, diverted payment, fake invoice
Mostly add-on 5 of 9 business products cover it fully, as an add-on or with limits.
Overview based on public policy terms, as of 06.11.2026. Only your policy and its general terms and conditions (GTC) are binding. No confirmation of cover.
What we can learn
Without approval rules for large payments, a single fake email from the boss can cost millions, and managers can lose their jobs.
Sources
- Austrian firm fires CEO after €50-million cyber scam (opens in a new window) The Local · 2016-05-25
- Chef des Luftfahrtzulieferers FACC muss gehen (opens in a new window) Der Standard · 2016-05