"Social Engineering Scam Hits Washington County Government"

Benton County, a county in the U.S. state of Washington, fell victim to a social engineering phishing scam in which thieves attempted to steal money. Further investigation revealed that the cybercriminals behind this scam are in India. The thieves pretended to a contractor working on several projects for the county, going so far as to create an online domain name using a legitimate construction firm's name. They sent emails appearing to come from a real employee of the construction company about a bill that Benton County owed for different projects, which led to an electronic transfer of $740,000. Kathleen Cooper, the spokeswoman for the Washington State Auditor's Office, pointed out that local governments and public education institutions are more vulnerable to such attacks because of the amount of sensitive information that they must share in order to perform business functions. This article continues to discuss the social engineering scam faced by Benton County, the response to this incident, other similar fraud schemes, and current efforts to protect local governments from cybersecurity threats. 

GovTech reports "Social Engineering Scam Hits Washington County Government"