A city employee has fallen for a phone scam impersonating a bank representative, resulting in nearly $1.1 million being stolen from municipal bank accounts through unauthorized transfers.
The incident occurred when the employee disclosed sensitive account information during the call, reports NBC Chicago.
City officials say they became aware of the fraudulent payments shortly after the transactions occurred and took immediate steps to mitigate impacts by notifying law enforcement and hiring outside cybersecurity experts.
“Law enforcement agencies are working closely with financial institutions to recover a portion of the funds, while City leadership continues to coordinate with relevant partners to identify those responsible and pursue full recovery options…
Given the increasing frequency of these types of attacks nationwide, the City carries insurance coverage designed to help mitigate financial losses from incidents of this nature.”
Officials say there is no evidence that the city’s network or data systems were compromised, however, the results of the financial institution’s forensic audit to determine whether there was an impact to any employee data stored on its systems has yet to come back.
“The city will continue to practice its internal procedures, security measures, and employee training programs to strengthen protections and help prevent incidents in the future.”
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