Hackers Steal Swedish Security Company CEO's Identity, Declare Him "Bankrupt"

in sweden •  7 years ago  (edited)

The 59-year old CEO of Swedish Security Firm Securitas was declared bankrupt this week after hackers stole his identity, took out a loan in his name, then filed for bankruptcy. As Bloomberg noted, “the sub-optimal branding implications were hard to miss.”

Securitas AB hopes to have put the whole awkward incident behind it by the end of the day. According to Bloomberg, the appointed bankruptcy trustee has been informed and will support the appeal of the bankruptcy decision, which is expected to be removed, Securitas said. Securitas CEO Alf Goransson is appealing the July 10 bankruptcy decision by the Stockholm District Court, which acted on false information, the company said on Wednesday. The appointed bankruptcy trustee has been informed and will support the appeal of the bankruptcy decision, which is expected to be removed, Securitas said.

“The perpetrator used the CEO’s identity to seek a loan of an undisclosed amount, after which a bankruptcy application was filed in his name. The identity theft took place in March. Goransson didn’t know he’d been hacked until this week, the company said.”

The hack attack “has no effect on the company, other than that our CEO has been declared bankrupt,” spokeswoman Gisela Lindstrand said. “And that will hopefully only last until later today, depending on how soon they can remove the decision.”

However, the theft, as Bloomberg notes, raises questions about security in a society that is leading the way in digitization. Sweden is well ahead of most of the rest of the world in replacing cash with digital payments - even homeless groups there accept credit cards.

Even a museum dedicated to the pop group Abba – the group that popularized the song “Money, Money, Money” – doesn’t accept cash.

At the country’s Abba museum, tourists aren’t allowed to pay for anything with cash.

Has Sweden’s commitment to transparency created an environment where identity theft is commonplace? The statistics would say yes.

“The country’s efforts to embrace transparency in all fields are also well documented. Sweden encourages widespread access to public information (employees can find out what their colleagues earn by checking with the tax authorities) and, like most other rich countries, online shopping and loan applications are on the rise. All of this has coincided with a sharp increase in identity fraud. Sweden responded last year by introducing specific legislation to target the development. Goransson’s case was one of 12,800 crimes involving hacked identities reported in Sweden in the first six months of 2017.”

Goransson has been de-registered as chairman of Loomis, a cash-handling company that used to be part of Securitas, in accordance with formal procedures of the Swedish Companies Registration Office. Goransson is also expected to appeal this decision after he gets the bankruptcy ruling thrown out, according to Bloomberg.


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If this account is not ZeroHedge itself, is this not plagiarism? I see you are citing the article, but I would not be pleased if I was ZeroHedge and someone was taking their work and re-posting it for $. If this is ZeroHedge itself posting here that is a different story, but I have never seen any verification that ZeroHedge has anything to do with this account. If I don't get a decent response to this I will start flagging these articles for plagiarism.

Well done post

This comment has received a 0.15 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @hamzaoui.

The irony is just overwhelming, i can't help but laugh, and i know i shouldn't.

The irony is real. Combined with the photo just too much as if he was saying "But... how?"

the irony in the article blows my mind

I dont know why, I laughed at the title! lmao, then I am like mom said I should not laugh at other peoples miseries! btw I am new to Steemit, Would appreciate all interest in my profile, Do leave an upvote if you like something and follow, please check my latest post
https://steemit.com/steempark/@alexkoshy/i-should-be-able-to-resteem-myself-this-sucks

It is a huge laugh in the face of a company which specialises in security.. Not cyber security thou :p

This article makes me laugh, security company being hack by hackers.

These guys can say goodbye to new business lol

jack bye.gif

Really in Sweden, identity theft has become commonplace?

Hacker Warrior fighting against the Old Oligarchy.

Wonder why he was targeted...good or bad guy...good or bad hackers?