FLOYD COUNTY, Ga. — Police have recovered $189,334.35 after Floyd County Schools were scammed out of the money.
According to Floyd County Police, District's Superintendent Dr. Glenn White discovered that $194,672.76 had been stolen on June 7 from the district's bank account. Floyd County Police said, "the school system had fallen victim to a business email compromise."
Detectives with Floyd County's Criminal Investigation Division immediately began tracking down court documents to determine where the funds went.
"It was discovered that the funds were transferred to Lakeside National Bank, located in Texas and had moved between accounts," Floyd County Police said.
The police department added that the bank was fully cooperative and had already noticed the suspicious activity. They had put "safeguards" in place, which helped law enforcement recover the funds.
"Any case involving the wired transfer of funds is difficult to solve and time is of the essence," the police department said. "Without Dr. White’s immediate actions to report the crime, the bank account that was seized by the Floyd County Police could have been depleted."
Floyd County Police are continuing their investigation, with the help of Lakeside National Bank, to recover the remaining $5,338.41.
In a statement, Floyd County Schools said the cyberattack was a result of a "spearphishing incident", which targeted an email pretending to be from a trusted sender. The school district believes it was an isolated incident.
"We are extremely grateful for the assistance of the Floyd County Police Department, Chief Mark Wallace, and Major Jeff Jones as well as Lakeside National Bank during this cyber security investigation and recovery," the school district's statement said.
