Scammers conned a Dutch museum into sending them £2.4 million (about $3.1 million) by posing as a real London-based art dealer who planned to sell the museum a John Constable painting, Artnet reports. The Rijksmuseum Twenthe in the eastern Netherlands was interested in purchasing Constable’s “A View of Hampstead Heath: Child’s Hill, Harrow in the Distance.”
The museum had been negotiating for months via email with then well-known art dealer Simon C. Dickinson when the conversation was hijacked by fraudsters. The scammers then managed to convince the museum with social engineering tactics to wire the payment to a bank account in Hong Kong.
It’s not clear if the scammers hacked either party’s email accounts, and the museum and Dickinson both maintain that the other is at fault. The Rijksmuseum Twenthe tried to sue Dickinson for negligence, claiming his team knew about the fraudulent emails and didn’t warn the museum, but the lawsuit was thrown out of court. Dickinson’s lawyer told the court that the museum failed to verify that the bank account was legitimate before sending the money.
“Instead of accepting the reality of the situation, the museum has reacted by pursuing a series of hopeless claims against [Dickinson], in the hope of pinning the blame for the museum’s mistake on [the dealer],” the lawyer said.
At the moment, the museum has the painting in its possession and won’t give it back, even though Dickinson hasn’t been paid. A judge in London will decide who has rightful ownership of the artwork.
Dickinson’s managing director Emma Ward told Artnet that regardless of which side is to blame, both parties are victims of the scammers.
“This unfortunate event highlights the dangers of cybercrime in the art world, which is regrettable for both the museum and Dickinson, especially when both are victims in this instance,” Ward said.
People in every field are at risk of falling victim to social engineering attacks. New-school security awareness training can enable your employees to be wary of these tricks.
Artnet News has the story: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/rijksmuseum-twenthe-simon-dickinson-1765983
