French bank Fortuneo allegedly targeted by cross-border transfer attack, $133 million diverted to cryptocurrency exchanges

According to TechFlow, on November 4, French journalist Grégory Raymond revealed exclusively that Fortuneo, an online bank under France's Crédit Mutuel Arkéa Group, appears to have been targeted by large-scale transfer fraud. The attackers allegedly initiated cross-border transfers using forged payee details and opened accounts on crypto exchanges like Kraken with fabricated identities. After passing KYC checks, they received the funds, converted the fiat into stablecoins, and withdrew them.

On-chain tracking indicates that between November 1 and 2, approximately $63 million in stablecoins was swapped for 27,553 ETH via UniswapX, then transferred through cross-chain bridges and instant exchange services, with part of the funds converted into the privacy coin Monero (XMR). ZachXBT had previously estimated the total involved amount at over $133 million, but the journalist cited sources stating that if off-chain money movements and OTC trades are factored in, the actual losses could be even higher.

The report also states that Kraken allegedly began freezing the implicated funds overnight from Monday to Tuesday, prompting the criminal syndicate to pivot to other platforms. As for the modus operandi, sources suggested two scenarios: either the bank's payment infrastructure was compromised, or employees fell prey to fraudsters impersonating executives. To date, the perpetrators' identities, the precise financial impact, the final destinations of the stolen funds, and potential ongoing security vulnerabilities at the bank remain unverified, with Crédit Mutuel Arkéa having issued no public comment so far.

In previous coverage, on-chain investigator ZachXBT updated his findings identifying the EU financial institution reportedly attacked with losses exceeding $133 million as the French bank Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, which holds $235 billion in assets.