The Town of Plymouth recently fell victim to cyber scam after one of its vendors was hacked, leading to the town’s finance director submitting her resignation letter.
The town sent two payments in the amount of about $104,000 each in response to what appeared to be accurate invoices, according to Mayor Joseph Kilduff.
In a Facebook post to the community, Kilduff said the town fell victim to what is referred to as a “social engineering scam.”
He said it appeared as though one of the town’s vendors was hacked over a month ago and did not notice the breach. This gave the scammers “project information” that was used to send the town’s finance department “what appeared to be accurate invoices,” Kilduff wrote.
“Unfortunately, the invoices came with incorrect payment instructions that were not properly verified by the finance department,” he continued.
The two payments that were sent have “yet to be returned,” Kilduff said.
According to Kilduff, he recently met with the finance director and they “mutually agreed that it was in the best interest of the Town of Plymouth that she tender her resignation effective immediately.”
Town officials are searching for a new director of finance and will be assisted by a consulting company in the interim.
Kilduff noted that there “is no suspicion of criminal activity by any town employee.” He said the incident was reported to the Plymouth Police Department, FBI and the town’s insurance company.
Kilduff also said that if the town does experience a loss it will be covered by insurance.
“Our fund balance continues to get healthier, and this will have no impact on our ability to maintain services or pay our obligations,” he said.
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