Fresno city employees wired $600K to scammers
Fresno city employees wired a large sum of money, then another, thinking the funds were going to a contractor building a police station.
Those payments never reached the contractor.
The city was a victim of wire fraud. But it would take two years for the truth to come out.
Fresno had lost more than $600,000 after falling victim to a phishing scam in 2020, but it kept the loss secret from the public until recently — which city officials said was done to protect a federal investigation.
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In January 2020, Fresno officials wired roughly $324,473 to who they believed was the contractor building a new police station in the city. Less than two months later, in early March, the city sent another $289,254. All told, it cut $613,727 in electronic payments.
The invoices looked identical to previous ones, except for one crucial aspect: the account number where the money would be sent was different, Dyer said
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-03-16/fresno-swindled-out-of-600000-in-wire-fraud-case
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