Online scammers or cyber hackers have conned a leading Bermuda captive and insurance management company out of millions of dollars, a US lawsuit alleges.

The Bermuda office of Aon Insurance Managers and unknown parties are being sued for nearly $2.9 million by US-based plaintiffs who allege that dividends meant to be distributed to them were mistakenly sent to others.

Aon’s captive and insurance management division is one of the largest in the captive insurance world, and the Bermuda office is a key player in its global network. Aon is also one of the world’s largest global brokers.

The suit, first reported in Offshore Alert, has been filed in the United States District Court Eastern District of Virginia.

The Virginia-based plaintiffs are Scott A Crabtree, A Joseph Wilkins Jr, Timothy Pohanka, The Pohanka Grandchildren’s IRR Trust, and The Geoffrey P Pohanka 2004 Family Trust.

The defendants are Aon Insurance Managers (Bermuda) Ltd and John Does 1-20.

The complaint says: “John Does 1-20 are unknown parties, including but not limited to individual hackers ... who ... gained unauthorised entry to certain e-mail accounts, including plaintiffs’ accounts, and, posing as plaintiffs and/or plaintiffs’ representatives and agents, fraudulently instructed Aon to transfer plaintiffs’ dividends to accounts controlled by the hackers.

“Additional parties may be named or joined as defendants or indispensable parties to this action once their identities are discovered, including the identities of defendants John Doe.”

The complaint adds: “This is an action to recover dividends owned by plaintiffs that were entrusted to the control and/or custody of Aon for distribution to plaintiffs located in the United States.

“Plaintiffs own shares in two Bermuda corporations, Asset Holding Group Ltd and Kenwood Holdings Ltd.

“On three separate occasions between February 2020 and December 2020, AHG and Kenwood declared dividends which were entrusted to Aon for distribution to the companies’ shareholders, including plaintiffs residing in Virginia.

“As a result of having control and/or custody of the dividends, Aon owed certain duties to plaintiffs. Aon, however, failed in its execution of these duties. Notwithstanding numerous red flags and other warning signs, Aon transferred the dividends to unknown third parties in conscious disregard of plaintiffs’ rights to the dividends.

“Aon’s actions in doing so contravened not only all standards of commercial reasonableness, but its own stated security procedures as well. Moreover, following the transfers, and despite repeated requests from plaintiffs to do so, Aon has failed to conduct a reasonable investigation tracing the funds into the accounts to which plaintiffs’ dividends were incorrectly transferred.”

It adds: “Aon has also refused to share with plaintiffs documentation related to any such investigation that may have been completed.

“As a result of Aon’s ongoing breaches of the duties it owed to plaintiffs, plaintiffs have incurred at least $2,874,491 in damages, not including additional costs and damages.”

The suit was filed on April 14.

A request to Aon for comment had been unanswered by press time.