EPHRATA – In early June, a call was made by Grant County Public Works to the Ephrata Police Department for a theft through deception of three checks totaling nearly $600,000.  

Ephrata PD Officer Zach Smith, who has been with the department for nearly five years, responded to the call and began investigating the theft. 

“The Grant County Public Works Department felt like they had gotten scammed,” Smith said. “It’s kind of a phishing attempt that went to fruition.”  

Smith said someone impersonated a legitimate vendor that GCPW normally works with.  

“Someone figured out that Grant County contracted with this vendor, impersonated emails, used logos and was convincing enough that if you're looking at first glance, it looks pretty legit.”  

Smith said after closer examination of the email exchange, he found small details that were red flags, including the text seemed to be a boilerplate template with words missing, the email address was different than previously, the email signature was different and the logo appeared to be pasted onto the email using the snipping tool.  

“Public works was like, ‘We got an email from our vendor. Let's update it,’” Smith said. “It seemed legitimate at first. It wasn't until other things came to light that it became more obvious.” 

The impersonator asked for payment to be switched to a check in the mail, Smith said. Grant County Public Works updated the payment and sent the checks off. One check totaling around $150,000 was cashed by the suspect.  

“It ended up being cashed and they were out a large sum of money, and they were not sure what to do,” Smith said. “They didn’t notice the scam until a vendor reached out and said, ‘Hey, we have not been paid.”  

Smith said he began to work with Chase Bank to track the cashed check's path.  

“I was able to coordinate with Public Works and the banks to have the money returned to Public Works in its entirety,” Smith said. “It was nice being able to get those funds back, and it was really nice for the Public Works Department as well because I know they were obviously torn up about it.”  

Smith said scams can happen to anybody.  

“Many times, it’s people like you and me, and we see a lot of people impersonating police officers of the government,” Smith said. “This highlights that it can happen to anybody at any time. Nobody is immune to scammers.”  

He recommends that if someone calls, texts or emails for money, it is likely a scam. Other red flags to look for are asking for money via gift cards, money orders or cash in the mail, the caller saying, “Don’t hang up the phone,” and never hearing from the caller before. 

“Also, no government agency is going to solicit money through the phone, not one,” he said.  

He said if someone feels as if they are getting scammed, they should hang up and contact a local law enforcement agency. 

“It can happen to anybody,” Smith said. “I have had family members. Obviously, government entities have fallen for it. Don't be embarrassed. Speak up and come forward. We might be able to get it back. But we don't know unless it's reported.” 

Ephrata Police Department Chief Erik Koch said he is proud of Smith for his work on this case. 

“I am obviously proud,” Koch said. “A lot of our members excel and do great work. It’s amazing seeing how many frauds go through and a lot of times you can’t track down where the money went or it changes hands. Most of the time, the money disappears faster than we can get our hands on it. So, it’s pretty impressive that we were able to find it, secure it and get it back to the victim.”  

Smith is still working on this case, and he said he hopes to find the people responsible for the scheme. He said this process requires a lot of paperwork, subpoenas and search warrants. 

“There is a lot of typing in my future,” Smith said.