More than $846K stolen from Florida school district in fraud scheme: CCSO

Nearly $850K stolen from Citrus County Schools

FOX 13's Aaron Mesmer reports on investigators in Citrus County working to figure out who's behind the theft of more than $846,000 from the Citrus County School District.

INVERNESS, Fla. - Investigators in Citrus County are working to figure out who's behind a "sophisticated" scheme leading to more than $846,000 in fraudulent transfers from the Citrus County School Board, a portion of which is still missing.

The backstory:

The sheriff's office says the school board got a message from a trusted vendor, claiming that a payment for a construction project had not been received.

District officials confirmed the payment had been made, according to CCSO, and it was later discovered that someone had emulated the vendor's email and provided a fake account number.

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CCSO says once the school board realized it had fallen victim to a form of cyber fraud commonly known as business email compromise (BEC), officials contacted the sheriff's office.

"It did look very much like an email we've received before from this particular company," Citrus County Schools Superintendent Dr. Scott Hebert told FOX 13. "This funding was out of our construction project, so this is not affecting employee salaries, it's not affecting curriculum, it's not affecting anything within our schools for our kids. It's affecting a construction project, so that's a positive. I take the work that I do as superintendent, the taxpayer dollars very seriously. I have to make sure that we have all the processes and procedures in place and, as you know, it's an ongoing cycle."

The U.S. Secret Service also got involved in the investigation, deputies say, freezing a total of $779,604 in two separate bank accounts outside of Florida.

That money has since been recovered, according to CCSO, but $67,260.86 remains missing.

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Investigators believe the suspect has no ties to the Citrus County School Board and is operating out-of-state.

What they're saying:

Sheriff David Vincent released the following statement on the ongoing case:

"As with any criminal case, my priority is to the victims in the case, whether that is a person, business, or government agency. This case could have been a significant financial loss to our local school district; our priority was locating the funds and securing them. Revealing information too early in a complex case like this could have given the suspects the upper hand in realizing we were on to them. While many have argued that transparency was an issue in this case, I would counter that with successful prosecution, protecting victims and recovering stolen property for victims will always be my priority in cases like these. If that means waiting until evidence is secured, property is recovered, and everything wrapped up in a package with a bow for prosecutors, so be it. We cannot thank our Federal Partners at the United States Secret Service enough for their quick actions in this case and for the issuance of seizure warrants on those bank accounts, which occurred today, recovering $779,604k of the $846,864.86 stolen through a malicious phishing email with a legitimate contractor of services."

Caroline O'Brien Buster, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service Orlando Field Office, also released a statement:

"This is another example where close cooperation and developing robust partnerships is critical to accomplishing our shared goal of protecting the nation's financial infrastructure. The immediate investigative actions taken by the Citrus County Sheriff's Office and the Secret Service prevented legitimate funds from getting into the wrong hands. We are thankful for our partnership with the Citrus County Sheriff's Office, and together with our law enforcement partners we will continue to investigate and pursue those who engage in financial fraud."

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Superintendent Hebert said the district is planning to re-evaluate its training and procedures to try to ensure this doesn't happen again. The employees who fell victim to the scam could also undergo further training and discipline, Hebert said.

What you can do:

Anyone with information about this case is urged to contact the Citrus County Sheriff's Office or submit a tip anonymously through Crime Stoppers of Citrus County at 1-866-ANY-TIPS (269-8477).

The Source: This story was written with information from the Citrus County Sheriff's Office.

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