Mining Firm Duped Into Transferring $10 Million to Thieves

Nautilus Minerals Inc. had agreed to pay Marine Assets Corp., or MAC, the money for chartering a ship to mine on a seabed – but the money never quite got there.

“In December 2014, it was discovered that the company and MAC had been victims of a cyberattack by an unknown third party,” Toronto-based Nautilus said in a statement on Feb. 2, 2015. “As a result, the company paid the deposit to a bank account which it believed to be MAC’s, but which MAC has advised was not its account.”

Nautilus had been preparing to mine copper and gold on the seabed near Papua New Guinea.

“The two companies will determine how to proceed in relation to the deposit following the conclusion of the investigations, which may take some months,” Nautilus said.