The Ottawa Police Department in conjunction with the FBI are looking into a cyber-attack on the City of Ottawa and one of its contractors. The fraud that is under investigation involves a company working legitimately with the City of Ottawa. This company was misrepresented online using fictious accounts mimicking the company’s account which allowed the fraud to occur. This investigation has also determined that there was no breach of data of any City Accounts and additional steps have been taken to reduce the City’s vulnerability for these types of attacks. Future payments from the city will require a “positive pay” system in order to reduce future risks.
Phishing scams often focus their attempts toward, government agencies, municipalities, and school districts and their vendors. This was evident during the investigation in which it was determined that other communities like Ottawa have had similar fraudulent thefts take place. The initial investigation has led the agency to focus the investigation to institutions outside the State of Illinois for the origination of the attack. Chief Brent Roalson would like to remind the public to be vigilant with your online data and information as we are all potential targets for scams and frauds.
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