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In August, The Virginia State Police (VSP) was able to recover just over half of the $600,000 from Spotsylvania County that was stolen by a BEC scheme. District officials were victimized by a fake invoice that was sent to the school district requesting payment for a new turf field installed at Courtland High School. Partial payment was sent for the $1.2-million-job but never delivered to the company that performed the work. VSP and multiple law enforcement agencies worked together to track down deposits in multiple banks, resulting in the return of $347,000 to the district later that month. The investigation is ongoing; currently, no arrests have been made.
Local accredited and non-accredited businesses in Western Virginia have been subject to these BEC schemes. Julie Wheeler, the President and CEO of the Better Business Bureau Serving Western Virginia, stresses the importance of local businesses prioritizing cybersecurity and not becoming a target due to lack of vigilance. Effective spam filtering and employee security awareness training can identify the majority of phishing attempts.
Branch and Associates, based in Roanoke, Virginia, discovered the importance of cybersecurity after a client fell victim to a spear-phishing scheme. Cabarrus County hired The Branch Group as a contractor for the construction of West Cabarrus High, a new school for the district. Phishing email with a similar email address of a Branch worker was sent to a county employee claiming that Branch and Associates had changed their bank account details, and requested that future payments on the school construction project to be sent to the new bank account, resulting in a costly 1.7 million dollar loss.
ABOUT BBB: For more than 100 years, the Better Business Bureau has been helping people find businesses, brands, and charities they can trust. In 2018, people turned to BBB more than 173 million times for BBB Business Profiles on nearly 5.4 million businesses and Charity Reports on 11,000 charities, all available for free at bbb.org. There are local, independent BBBs across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, including BBB Serving Western Virginia, which was founded in 1940 and serves 32 counties in Virginia.
For more advice on fighting employment scams, please visit BBB.org or contact the BBB Serving Western VA at (540) 342-3455 or (800) 533-5501.
Media Contact: Chris Runyon, PR & Communications Specialist, (540) 342- 3455 ext. 3006 or [email protected]