Marshfield School District Part of Elaborate Cyber Scam
Friday, June 14th, 2019 -- 11:16 AM
(Marshfield News Herald) -The School District of Marshfield was the target of an "elaborate" cyber scam that elicited a fraudulent transfer of $660,000 in district funds.The district's business office received an email April 23 from someone claiming to represent a district vendor, according to a news release. The email said the vendor was updating its banking information and needed the district's bank routing form to provide the updated information. The business office sent the necessary form, which was completed and returned by the scammer, according to the news release. The payment of approximately $660,000 was sent May 22 to the fraudulent account, according to the release. District officials alerted local authorities when the fraudulent transaction was discovered May 30.
While working with Forward Bank in Marshfield, the district learned that a party tried to exchange approximately $500,000 of the fraudulent transaction through a Florida credit union. That amount has since been returned to the district; however the FBI is working to track down the remaining amount of approximately $160,000. Superintendent Ryan Christianson said the district is updating its processes to avoid similar occurrences in the future and is alerting other school districts to the scam.
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