Even cities fall victim to scammers

Stories of people fooled by online scam artists are common. Fake messages, with a common goal of separating you from your money, arrive via email, text message, and voicemail. Someone offers opportunities to make investments. You are warned about a pending arrest unless you pay up, urging you to call right away and straighten out an overdue bill. You receive a phone call stating that your bank account has been compromised and that your account information is needed to ensure it’s safe. 

Despite the best efforts, despite repeated warnings, people fall victim to these scams. Even cities, which you would think would be on full alert 24/7, have been tricked and unwittingly surrendered large sums of taxpayer money to bad guys. 

Which leads to the most recent incident in Newport, Wash., just across the border from Idaho down Highway 41. Officials there announced Thursday that they were the victims of a sophisticated online scam around Feb. 11 and lost $330,000. 

Ouch. That's a lot of money for a small town.

We won’t be too critical of Newport’s officials who were taken for so much money because they are human and mistakes happen. Still, as a government agency, they must be held to a higher degree of accountability because they handle public funds. It took officials two weeks to go public on the scam, but they have not offered any details about exactly how the city got duped, which would be nice to know, as it might help others avoid the same fate. 

Of course, they are not alone.

A few years ago, the town of Clark Fork lost more than $480,000 after the city mistakenly transferred funds to a scammer impersonating a construction contractor’s manager. To its credit, Clark Fork officials outlined what happened: They paid a bill for excavation work associated with improvements to the city’s drinking water infrastructure. The city soon discovered it had mistakenly transferred funds to a scammer impersonating the excavation firm’s manager. Clark Fork was able to recover about $192,937.22 of the total $483,519.12, and the incident remains under federal investigation.

The lesson here is clear: Be sure you know who is getting your money. Check before you confirm any money transfer.

In 2024, the city of Coeur d’Alene was hit by what was called a “malware incursion,” forcing it to shut down its computer network. The “data security incident” involved the “acquisition of personal information.”  

The cyberattack cost the city time, money, and a hit to its pride. It made upgrades to try and be sure it doesn’t happen again: Deployed advanced security tools to enhance detection and accelerate response to cyber incidents; conducted enterprise-wide password reset; installed hardware and system enhancements. 

These safety measures have been effective.

Scammers will keep coming at people, businesses and governments for one reason: They want your money. They will not give up. Even if one is caught, more will rise in their place. We all must be vigilant if we want to stop them. It applies even more so to government bodies.