The Fake Larry Fink Letter
That Duped Reporters
Alicia McElhaney, 16 January 2019
Asset management giant BlackRock is investigating a fake letter sent to reporters by someone posing as the firm’s chief executive officer Larry Fink, a spokesperson said Wednesday. “Don’t be fooled by imitations…Larry’s real CEO letter coming soon,” BlackRock tweeted Wednesday. The Financial Times was duped by the letter, which focused on climate change, a report from the news outlet said Wednesday.
Here’s how the scammers tricked reporters: at around 6:15 this morning, a letter from “larry.fink@blackrock-esg.com” landed in many reporter’s inboxes, including one Institutional Investor reporter. It’s unclear whether any of BlackRock’s clients also received the letter. The letter was sent at roughly the same time that BlackRock published its fourth-quarter earnings on its website.
