A German city authority fall victim to cyber fraud and lose hundreds of thousands of Euros
German media have revealed details of a serious fraud case in the city of Dülmen in North Rhine-Westphalia, highlighting the weaknesses in the digital infrastructure of some German departments.
The Dülmen municipality was defrauded via a fake email, resulting in the transfer of €400,000 to an offshore bank account created specifically for this purpose by the fraudsters.
“We tried to recover the money, but unfortunately to no avail,” said municipal spokesman Andrei Simes.
The scammers had inside information about the deal, knowing that the city had ordered two new fire trucks last year.
It appears that the scammers spied on the manufacturer to collect data about the order.
Using this information, they created a very accurate fake invoice addressed to the municipality, but with the bank account details changed to a foreign account.
Once the money was transferred, it disappeared without a trace, and the criminal police are still investigating the incident.
Dülmen Mayor Carsten Hovekamp (CDU) defended the municipal employees, saying, “The operation was very professional, and anyone could have fallen victim”.
Mayor Hofkamp stressed the need to exercise caution when dealing with emails, especially those containing banking details.
