According to the online news site Patch, the Town of Tewksbury announced last week that it had been the victim of a phishing scam. In a statement issued by the Town Manager Richard Montuori, a town employee responded to an email it had received in late December from a regular vendor requesting payment via wire transfer. Since this was a common practice with several other large vendors the town works with, the employee made the payment. The email, however, turned out to be a spoof and “part of a pervasive multinational spree of email phishing attempts…”
In response, the Town Manager was quoted in the article as saying, “”The town immediately initiated an investigation, notified the vendor of the scam, contacted the Tewksbury Police Department, and notified the FBI of the fraud.” It also took further steps to implement a new wire and transfer procedures and will have it audit firm do a complement review of the incident.
As for the $102,000 lost as a result of the phishing scam? The Town is now looking to its insurance carrier in the hopes that it can recoup approximately $92,500 of the $102,000 lost.
