BRAZOS COUNTY, Texas (KRHD) — Brazos County Emergency Services District No. 1 is warning residents about a sophisticated scam that cost the district just under $400,000.
Officials said the scam happened Oct. 10, when hackers intercepted what was supposed to be a payment from the district to a vendor.
An ESD1 employee noticed something unusual about bank account numbers and contacted the vendor before completing the transaction.
“Our employee noticed something looked wrong and asked for clarification. Everything was handled correctly. Unfortunately, we have since learned that these hackers had been in our system for quite some time monitoring our activity and waited for a large transaction to strike.”
Investigators told ED1 Commissioner and President Rodger Stout the attack was among the most sophisticated scams they have seen and is becoming increasingly common.
According to officials, the hackers manipulated email addresses by changing one letter in the recipient’s name. In this case, a lowercase “i” was replaced with a lowercase “l,” with a font change that made the alteration difficult to detect.
“First and foremost, we are public servants. That’s why we do what we do. If we can now serve the public by making them aware of this scam, hopefully we can raise an awareness that helps prevent anyone else from becoming a victim. That’s our goal at this point.”
The Brazos County Sheriff’s Office is investigating. Officials said no additional details are being released at this time.
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