KFI: A scammer managed to dupe officials in the town of Erie, Colorado, out of one million dollars. The city signed a contract with SEMA Construction to build the Erie Parkway Bridge and had planned to pay the company by check.
The scammer went online and filled out a form on the town’s website requesting to be paid via an electronic wire transfer instead and included the account information. While an official verified some of the account data, they never confirmed the transfer with SEMA Construction and sent the funds. MORE
How can anyone be that stupid? There is more to the story. As usual: follow the money.
That’s typical of many municipal employees.
They’re so excited to be able to spend a million dollars that they forget to do things right.
“Doesn’t really matter because it’s OPM.”
What’s an eight letter word that rhymes with kickback?
A similar thing happened to the Town of Norwich, Vermont this past summer to the tune of about 1/2 million. Somebody hacked the Town Manager’s e-mail and sent a request for payment. The payment clerk failed to follow the proper approval procedures and wired the funds, not once but twice. The Town’s bank was able to retrieve the second payment and insurance covered most of the first so that Town was not seriously damaged.
There seems to be a lot of embezzlements in the press lately, mostly smaller businesses. It is difficult for small businesses and gov’ts to install sufficient internal controls so it is important that owners and top managers keep a tight fist on controlling their finances. Too often owners become complacent and allow long-term bookkeepers too much latitude in writing checks.
Fukkin amachurs!
Someone is getting a promotion. Screw up to move up.
Is that like a lot of money? It’s like, mostly zeroes.
Monorail….
I was going to say.
He built bridges for Brockway, Ogdenville and North Havenbrook that put their cities on the map.
Inside job, without a doubt. Cops should be looking very closely at whoever made that “bonehead” transfer. They have enough money to retire now.
This town just got in trouble last year for banning a republican women’s group from having a meeting after they took money from them for the room when they learned the topic had to due with fracking. Poorly run by liberals getting paid big bucks. Easy target.
They should have been tipped off when the account belonged to the treasury secretary of Nigeria.
Another side-effect of “quota-hires”.
Assuming that the employee had nothing to do with the theft (well, except for the being stupid and not following procedures part) it’s funny that they resigned and in doing so showed more class and sense of responsibility then the myriad of FBI and other Feds that failed to follow procedure in the issuing of FISA warrants that are still employed. But I suppose the difference is that the Feds broke the rules on purpose to try to destroy a sitting President.