Police recover $460,866 payment made by city to scammers
By Tanner Kahler
Click here for updates on this story
MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (WISN) — Milwaukee officials say police recovered a $460,866 payment made by the city to scammers who were impersonating a construction company.
City Comptroller Bill Christianson called the scam a “deceptive scheme in which criminals impersonated a legitimate City vendor.”
According to Christianson, the scam started in June when the criminals impersonated Scherrer Construction in an email to change the company’s bank account information.
“The fraudster’s email was designed to appear almost exactly as a legitimate email from the vendor,” Christianson told WISN 12 News. “A forged bank verification letter was provided as supporting documentation. An ACH wire transfer payment was made to the fraudster’s account instead of the vendor’s account after the bank account had been changed.”
The $460,866 payment from the city was made July 15.
According to a news release from the city comptroller’s office, city officials later reported the issue. Detectives with Milwaukee police’s Financial Crimes unit worked to trace the fraudulent transaction.
Christianson told WISN 12 News the money was returned to city accounts approximately three weeks after the fraud was discovered. He said an internal review is underway and declined to say whether any city employees will be disciplined.
Milwaukee police said they do not know who they are looking for. Detectives believe the scammer or scammers are overseas.
“MPD continues to investigate to hold these individuals accountable,” the department said.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
