The desire to buy the painting turned out to be a loss of more than £ 2 million for the Twente State Museum (Netherlands). According to Bloomberg, the art museum has initiated negotiations with the British art dealer Simon C. Dickinson Ltd on the purchase of an expensive painting by the English artist John Constable, which the museum director spotted in Europe. art exhibition.
For several months, the parties negotiated by e-mail, at some point the attackers managed to gain access to the systems of one of the organizations and interfere with the correspondence. Disguised as an art dealer, they sent fake messages to the museum, after which the latter transferred £ 2.4 million ($ 3.1 million) to a bank account in Hong Kong allegedly owned by Simon Dickinson.
As a result, the art dealer never received the money owed to him, and the fraudsters could not be identified. Now the affected parties are trying to find out in court who is to blame for the situation. In a lawsuit filed with the High Court of London, the museum accused Simon Dickinson of not detecting email fraud. In turn, the art dealer said that he did not notice someone else's presence in the correspondence, and the museum should have checked the account before sending funds to it. In addition, both parties consider each other to be a source of theft, since each of them allowed their systems to be compromised.
The State Museum of Twente is seeking damages. The court did not find the defendant guilty of negligence, but noted that the revised claims for damages could be accepted for consideration. Now the court must decide who owns the ownership of the painting.
For several months, the parties negotiated by e-mail, at some point the attackers managed to gain access to the systems of one of the organizations and interfere with the correspondence. Disguised as an art dealer, they sent fake messages to the museum, after which the latter transferred £ 2.4 million ($ 3.1 million) to a bank account in Hong Kong allegedly owned by Simon Dickinson.
As a result, the art dealer never received the money owed to him, and the fraudsters could not be identified. Now the affected parties are trying to find out in court who is to blame for the situation. In a lawsuit filed with the High Court of London, the museum accused Simon Dickinson of not detecting email fraud. In turn, the art dealer said that he did not notice someone else's presence in the correspondence, and the museum should have checked the account before sending funds to it. In addition, both parties consider each other to be a source of theft, since each of them allowed their systems to be compromised.
The State Museum of Twente is seeking damages. The court did not find the defendant guilty of negligence, but noted that the revised claims for damages could be accepted for consideration. Now the court must decide who owns the ownership of the painting.
