City of Fort Lauderdale loses $1.2 million after falling victim to phishing scam

Police are investigating after the City of Fort Lauderdale fell victim to a phishing scam, losing $1.2 million to someone posing as a legitimate construction company.

Fort Lauderdale Police is working with other law enforcement agencies to investigate who conned the city on September 14th, claiming to be Moss Construction, the contractor working to build the city’s new police department on Broward Boulevard.

Detectives said the city paid the $1.2 million payment believing it to be a legitimate bill.

“All the paperwork was exactly the way paperwork has been received from that company in the past,” Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said. "So someone had access to that company’s information, their files, processes, it was all exactly the way we’ve received the request before, especially getting a check from the company."

An email from City Manager Greg Chavarria to city officials Wednesday explained someone sent a request for payment pretending to be Moss Construction. They filled out the paperwork needed and attached a blank check. When Accounts Payable checked the name and say it matched corporate records, they made the $1.2 million payment.

“They often hack the email of the vendor, the provider of services, then they send what looks like a legitimate invoice, and it may be a legitimate invoice, but they change the bank account details,” said Dr. Pablo Molina, a cybersecurity expert who says it’s becoming more common for government agencies to get hacked.

It was later learned the request for payment was fraudulent. 

“Malicious actors took advantage of our good name and publicly available information to attempt a scam," a spokesperson for Moss Construction said in a statement Thursday. "This is a fraud case that is being actively investigated by the City of Fort Lauderdale officials and police. We refer all calls to the Fort Lauderdale Police Department."

Since the payment was made via wire transfer, the mayor say the city’s bank is working to get the money back, possibly within a week. Trantalis added if they can’t reverse the transfer, the city would be reimbursed through insurance and the taxpayer won’t have lost any money.

“Clearly we have to come up with better protocols to ensure this doesn’t happen again on this account or any other accounts that we deal with. This is becoming more common in today’s culture,” said Trantalis.

Police are using the situation to remind people to be vigilant and cautious when fulfilling payment requests. 

This is an active investigation.