Yazaki Group Entities Presidents and Finance Responsible Personnel
June 17, 2015
Finance Division, Kazunori Nishimoto
Warning Notice: Fraud Incident
February this year, Yazaki Group Affiliate YMO got involved in a fraud incident. This incident is currently being investigated by a law enforcement authority in Morocco. We would like to share with you the information on the incident to call your attention. We would like to ask you all Yazaki Group Entities to once again review your payment processes in order to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Outline of the fraud incident in Morocco
In February 2015, YMO received a request from a man who claimed to be a responsible person from an existing supplier saying that they need money for acquiring a competitor in China and therefore would like an early payment for March and April to be transferred to an agency account. They offered 7% discount for this early payment.
YMO asked for documentation and received a letter with the supplier’s letter head and handwritten signature of the responsible person. YMO confirmed on the supplier’s website that the responsible person who signed the document really exists. (Later it was found out that the signature was forged.)
YMO accounting tried to contact an accounting responsible person at the supplier, whom they had daily communication with, but the person was on a leave for 3 weeks holiday and unreachable. YEL finance and logistics personnel as well as YMO plant manager approved the payment from fund procurement and cost reduction perspectives respectively. YMO accounting executed the payment.
In March 2015, the supplier (the real supplier) reminded them of the payment and the fraud was found out. Following inquiry to the bank revealed that the money was already transferred from the account to 10 different places. Currently it is being investigated by police, Criminal Investigation Special Division.
Check points and cautionary notes to prevent the recurrences
① If you receive any irregular payment request like this case, always make sure to directly contact accounting responsible person in the supplier from Yazaki side and confirm with them. (Do not make the confirmation by replying to the email or calling back the number you have received the request with. Use the contacts that are used in daily operations and contact from Yazaki side (email, phone number or address).
② Check whether an approval process is established and in place in case of changing bank account information (Is the request documented and appropriate approval process inside the company is in place? Not just with the payment division, is there cooperation between divisions that are involved with the supplier?)
③ Share this information with those with authority and in decision making roles and promote awareness.
④ Are there measures taken to prevent input errors of payment destination bank account information?
In addition to this incident, it has reported that accounting responsible personnel in overseas have received a false email from a sender claims to be President Yazaki. Contents of the emails was such as “I would like you to immediately contact a specified consultant at Deloitte with regard to transferring fund for a strictly confidential acquisition project that your local president does not even know.” This time, the person who received the email felt suspicious about it and we could handle it without causing any actual damage. Could you please be careful of false and fraud emails of this kind and promote awareness in order to prevent recurrences. Thank you for your attention.