$5M Cyber Claim For Phishing Scam Heads To Supreme Court

A $5-million coverage dispute with The Co-operators that arose from a phishing attack is headed to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Canada’s top court is booked Dec. 7 to hear arguments in Co-operators General Insurance Company v. Sollio Groupe Coopératif. The claim was based on fraudsters inducing a Quebec agricultural co-operative to make an electronic funds transfer.

It all began in August 2014, when Sollio Groupe Coopératif had a deposit account in U.S. currency with the National Bank of Canada. Sollio Groupe, known in 2014 as La Coop Fédérée, is a Quebec agricultural cooperative.

A phishing attack resulted in an electronic funds transfer of US$4.946 million from Sollio Groupe’s account. In Canadian funds, Sollio Groupe’s total loss was about $6.5 million.