Officials with the City of Arab announced they've recovered a payment of more than $400,000 that was lost in a phishing scam in early March.
Officials announced Monday that payment totaling $431,818 was successfully recovered by the city.聽The City of Arab initially lost the money after officials say they fell victim to a phishing scam in which someone posing as a contractor for the city鈥檚 new parks and recreation center sent a fraudulent invoice.
City officials said they immediately began working with Arab Police Department, the city attorney and representatives of People's Bank of Alabama after discovering the fraud.聽
According to Arab Mayor Bob Joslin, the U.S. Secret Service is now involved in an investigation into the incident along with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Homeland Security, local law enforcement and the Marshall County District Attorney's Office.聽
The city said the scam involved a fraudulent party using data and information related to FITE Building Company to impersonate a legitimate representative. The fraudster redirected an authorized payment to an unauthorized bank account.
A criminal investigation into the incident remains ongoing.
"I want to publicly thank City Attorney Rodney Edmondson and People鈥檚 Bank of Alabama for their tireless efforts to ensure the return of these funds to the City of Arab and its taxpayers," said Joslin in a statement. "I also want to thank APD Chief Washburn and his investigators, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Homeland Security and the United States Secret Service as well as the Marshall County DA鈥檚 Office for their efforts in assisting in the recovery of these funds and in the continued criminal prosecution of the fraudulent parties."
A sign of the contractor (FITE) for Arab's new parks and recreation center.
