Kings County Treasurer Jim Erb said this week that the latest fraud that cost Kings County nearly $85,000 was unusually sophisticated and came at a time when the fiscal sector is vulnerable.
As a result, the county has taken steps, including verification and outside oversight, to avoid such crimes in the future, Erb said.
“We’ve had some scam requests in the past,” Erb said. “In the case of payroll and bank changes, they usually ask for small amounts of money. These scam emails have been easier to spot in the past.”
The fraud was brought to the attention of the board of supervisors this month after Erb told the board of supervisors that the county issued an $894,000 check to an unnamed person masquerading as a contractor the county hired nearly a year and a half ago.
“Compared to other events in the past, the recent events are much more complex and well thought out,” Erb said.
The attack also comes at a time when the office is making many internal changes.
“During the time the money was approved, we were training new employees and implementing a new accounting system,” Erb said.
Following the recent incident, the department has implemented a number of safety precautions.
“One of the things that we’re doing now is we always need to have validation for any type of change from someone above the person who made the initial request,” Erb said. “We also have outsiders from the accounting department handling Manage payroll requests. This is to help with any future supplier pressure on payment schedules.”
The way the department accepts change requests will also change.
“We no longer maintain a change of financial institution form on our website,” Erb said. “If a supplier wants to make a change, they have to call our accounts payable executive and request a form. They do some research before passing the request on for a second verification. We have a senior accountant in our accounts payable department.”
The Kings County Sheriff’s Office is working with numerous agencies, including the Secret Service, to investigate the incident but would not comment on ongoing investigations.
“We were lucky to get back as much money as we did because five days passed before we became aware of the situation,” Erb said.
