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Web Scam Bilks State of Utah Out of $2.5M
KitB sends in a story in the Salt Lake Tribune that tells of a Web-based scam, resembling some used by Nigerian gangs, that snared the state of Utah. $2.5M was sent to a bank account in Texas before the bank raised a question and then froze $1.8M in the account. "Thieves apparently used a Nigerian-based scam to steal $2.5 million from the Utah treasury, covering their tracks by using intermediaries and a church address. A Salt Lake Tribune review of the names listed in a search warrant as receiving or transferring money [found] names of African origin or connections to that continent. Michael Kessler, ... a forensic accounting [investigator] in New York City, said the thieves appear to have used a simple scam that originated in Nigeria about five years ago. The Utah theft is the first time he's seen a government victimized. 'Their IT people should have known better,' Kessler said after reviewing a copy of the search warrant Thursday. 'It sounds like any kid could have done this.'"
*sigh* can't you read TFA? There wasn't a scam like the Nigerian scams - this is more a case of someone forging invoices.
Essentially, the scammers changed the bank details for the University of Utah, and submitted invoices. The state paid them. Yes, the state was slack and had poor procedures for identifying and preventing fraud, but it wasn't one of the 419 scams. Importantly, there doesn't appear to have been an element of greed on the scamee's part.
This was a scam technique that originated in Nigeria. It wasn't the Nigerian 419 Scam. Strangely enough, Nigeria has been the origin of more than one type of scam.
"Software is too expensive to build cheaply"
If this was a purchasing issue, why does the article quote the interviewee as suggesting, "Their IT people should have known better,"
The interviewee is quite possibly a douche nozzle.
This is a multi-part scam. What occurred with the state of Utah had nothing to do with Nigeria at all. That is just tabloid journalism where they mention something catchy in the title to get people to read an article that might otherwise be uninteresting.
Part one was where the scammers used an entity that was already billing the state of Utah and faked invoices with bank accounts changed to funnel the money to the scammers instead. The University of Utah was obviously known to the state and it was not unusual for them to be submitting large invoices.
Part two, and this is the Nigerian component, was using a person's greed to accept what is sometimes illicit funds in order to receive a share. That's classic Nigerian. I know where there is 10,000,000$ USD but I need your help to access it. In return for your bank account details and cooperation I agree to give you a "commission".
The people who created the bank accounts where the state of Utah funds were deposited into were the victims of the "Nigerian" fraud. Although, it's not exactly clear that they were actually victims in the sense that they lost money.
The part that is disappointing is not the "country bumpkins" that cooperated in receiving the money, but the accountants working for the state of Utah that did not have the sense to check bank account numbers against an approved list before transferring millions of taxpayer dollars.