Texas School District Loses $2.3 Million In Phishing Email Scam

Cropped Hands Of Person Using Laptop On Table In Darkroom

A school district in Texas was scammed out of $2.3 million in a phishing email scheme. Authorities did not provide specific details about the scam but said that an employee was duped by a fraudulent email.

In November and December, an employee for the Manor Independent School District authorized three payments to an unidentified vendor but did not notice the bank account information had been changed.

"It was three separate transactions. Unfortunately, they didn't recognize the fact that the bank account information had been changed, and they sent three separate transactions over the course of a month before it was recognized that it was a fraudulent bank account," Detective Anne Lopez told KVUE.

Once the district realized the error, they contacted the police. Local officials, working with the FBI, said they have "strong leads" but have asked the public to contact the Manor Police Department at 512-215-8035 if they have any information relating to the case.

Detective Lopez advised people to be extremely vigilant before authorizing online payments and to double-check all their emails for signs they may be fraudulent.

"So I think its important that any email you get, any phone call you get, that you question everything and make sure you know who you're talking to directly – that you look through every part of that email or any information that they're providing you and double-check you have checks and balances in place to make sure that any information provided to you is actually accurate."

Photo: Getty Images


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