Supervalu falls prey to scam
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BOISE, Idaho -- Supervalu, one of the nation's largest grocers, has fallen prey to an e-mail scam, losing about $10 million after wiring money to fraudulent bank accounts, according to federal court filings.
The scam is detailed in a pair of forfeiture cases filed under seal earlier this year in a U.S. District Court in Idaho.
The fraud began after the supermarket received two e-mails -- one from someone purporting to be an American Greetings Corp. employee and another claiming to be with Frito-Lay, according to court documents.
Both e-mails claimed the companies wanted payments sent to new bank account numbers.
Supervalu sent more than $6.5 million to the phony American Greetings account and nearly $3.6 million to the phony Frito-Lay account before realizing it was all a scam.
The FBI was able to capture the money before it was whisked away by the scammers, but now American Greetings, Frito-Lay and Supervalu have all laid claim to the money and U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill will decide where it should go.
First Published October 21, 2007 12:00 am
