COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Auditor of State, Keith Faber says his office has seen a recent increase in cyber scams targeting public offices and now urges state and local government employees to be extra careful in reviewing requests to redirect payments from public accounts.
On Thursday state auditor Keith Faber issued an advisory warning of the spear phishing attacks and provided information to help protect taxpayer resources.
“These cyber crooks will stop at nothing to get their hands into the public coffers,” said Faber. “We need to do everything possible to ensure those resources are available for roads and schools, police and firefighters, and other services the public relies on, not padding criminals’ pocketbooks.”
The “business email compromises,” or re-direct schemes, often involve seemingly innocent messages to government offices from individuals impersonating vendors or other employees and seeking to have payments sent to different bank accounts. Unsuspecting Ohio government offices, thinking they are dealing with a known vendor or employee, process the requests and change banking information without independently verifying the legitimacy of the request or the identity of the requester, said state investigators.
Once the funds are transferred, they’re often difficult to recoup.
To combat these schemes, the state auditor’s office on Thursday included tips for identifying the scams and preventing the transfer of public funds to nefarious actors.
The Auditor of State’s Office has also assembled information on free training and other resources to assist government offices in avoiding phishing scams.
It is crucial for government offices to be vigilant and follow the recommended protocols to protect taxpayer resources from these cyber-attacks. The public relies on the services these funds provide, and it is the responsibility of public offices to ensure that they are not falling victim to these schemes. With the help of the Auditor of State’s Office and the resources they have provided, Ohio government offices can be better equipped to identify and prevent these scams from draining public coffers.
More information can be found at the links below:
https://ohioauditor.gov/fraud/cybersecurity.html
