TEWKSBURY, MASS. (WHDH) - Tewksbury is working to recoup more than $100,000 after the community recently fell victim to an email compromise phishing attack, Town Manager Richard Montuori announced Wednesday.
In late December, a town employee received an email from a regular vendor inquiring about invoices authorized for payment and requesting payment via wire transfer, but the email was spoofed to appear to come from the vendor, according to Montuori.
“When payment was made in late January to a Wells Fargo bank account, town officials soon discovered that the email and wire request were fraudulent and part of a pervasive multinational spree of email phishing attempts that have been on the rise in recent years,” Montuori’s office said in a news release.
Of the $102,000 lost in the phishing scam, Montuori hopes to be repaid $92,500 via insurance.
Montuori noted that he has since ordered a freeze on new wire transfers.
Officials say that most of the town’s wire transfer accounts were set up during the early days of COVID-19 to accommodate vendors who were working from home and could not conveniently receive checks through the mail at their offices.
Tewksbury police and the FBI were notified of the phishing attack.
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