MANSFIELD — Kelly Blankenship said she’s been warned that when it comes to scammers, everyone is a target.
“The general consensus out there is not if it happens to you, but when it happens to you,” said Blankenship, the City of Mansfield’s finance director.
“It’s a horrible world we live in. You have to be suspicious of everybody.”
Fraudsters have increasingly been targeting local governments. Mansfield fell within one of scammer’s crosshairs last week.
According to a press release from the city, Mansfield finance department was recently scammed into sending a payment intended for a vendor to a fraudulent bank account.
Blankenship said a bad actor impersonating the vendor contacted the finance department and requested they update the information used for electronic deposits. Believing the request to be authentic, an employee in the department processed the change.
Blankenship said the payment was sent on May 22. The financial institution receiving the payment flagged it as suspicious, froze the receiving account and reported the incident to the city’s bank. However, Blankenship said Mansfield officials weren’t notified until May 29.
The finance director also said the city’s bank and scammer’s bank sharing many details with the city until their own investigation is complete.
Blankenship said the city has reported the fraud to local law enforcement and the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.
“While we regret that this incident occurred, I want to emphasize that we acted swiftly, cooperated fully with all involved agencies, and have already taken steps to strengthen our internal controls,” Blankenship said. “Our top priority is safeguarding public funds and maintaining the public’s trust.”
“We will provide additional information as appropriate and permitted during the ongoing investigation,” she added.
Blankenship declined to name the vendor the scammer was impersonating or the amount deposited into the fraudulent bank account, citing the city law director’s recommendation amid the ongoing investigation.
She said the city of Mansfield carries insurance that will cover any funds lost.
“We haven’t lost any taxpayer dollars because of this,” she said. “Thankfully we are insured against events like this because it’s unfortunately so common.
Blankenship did say the city’s bank informed her that some of the funds would be recoverable.
“They did indicate that there were funds available, they just won’t say how much is in there,” Blankenship said.
City government had recently formed a cybersecurity committee
A press release said the city has conducted a comprehensive internal review and has implemented enhanced internal policies and controls to prevent similar incidents moving forward.
The City’s internal network, systems, and data infrastructure were not compromised as part of this incident, Blankenship said.
Blankenship said cybersecurity and scams are regularly discussed during staff meetings.
The city also recently formed a cybersecurity task force prior to the phishing incident. The committee includes representatives from every elected official’s office.
“We already have been and will continue to make sure that we are as secure as possible in all aspects,” said Mansfield Mayor Jodie Perry.
“There’s so much of this unfortunately happening. I don’t say that to diminish the impact of this, but it is a really common scheme at this point,” Perry added. “It drives home the importance of being vigilant.”
Blankenship said the new committee hasn’t rolled out any policies or training yet, but likely will in the future.
“It’s definitely something that needs to be formalized and regularly visited,” she said.
Ohio auditor has warned of rise in ‘payment re-direct’ schemes
It’s not uncommon for state and local governments to be targeted by scammers. In fact, Auditor of State Keith Faber issued a bulletin and press release last year about the rise in payment redirect schemes.
In the press release from April 2024, Faber urged government employees to be “extra diligent” in reviewing requests to redirect payment from public accounts.
“While many re-direct schemes occur through electronic communication (e.g., email), it is important to note that these same schemes can be initiated via telephone or physical paper requests as well,” the bulletin warned.
“With advancing artificial intelligence technology, these cybercriminals can match voices and appearances electronically.”
The bulletin said scammers sometimes make subtle changes to names or emails, like adding one extra letter to a familiar email address.
Faber’s release said that at least 23 governmental offices, including cities, villages, townships, and school districts, have been affected by payment re-direct attacks over the preceding 12 months, leading to hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost public funds.
According to Faber’s office, funds are often difficult to recoup once they’ve been transferred.
Faber’s bulletin also offered tips for preventing such fraud and warned that municipal employees could be held liable for lost funds if they were found to be negligent or “performing duties without reasonable care.”
