Overseas scammers stole millions from the Chester Upland School District through a scheme involving hacked emails, cryptocurrency and the online dating site EHarmony.
Although $3 million is still missing, the amount taken was initially much larger, authorities announced a press conference on Friday. They’ve managed to recover $10.3 million so far.
“This incident should serve as a reminder to everyone – government agencies, businesses, nonprofits, and ordinary citizens – to always be on the alert for cybercriminals and fraudsters,” said Pennsylvania State Treasurer Stacy Garrity.
The scheme began when scammers with ties to Nigeria hacked into the district’s email system and gained control of an employee’s account.
With the hacked account, they sent an official-looking email to the state Comptroller’s Office. It requested that the department transfer the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s payments to the district into an account belonging to the hackers.
Between December 2020 and February 2021, the hackers received 25 payments meant for the district, the Delco Times reported.
To launder this money, the scammers preyed on a widow in Florida through a fake dating profile on the site EHarmony. Officials said she unwittingly acted as a “money mule” by moving the stolen funds into bank accounts and then using it to buy cryptocurrency.
The woman was also being scammed, authorities said. They also said that none of the district’s employees were…
