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5 things to know about how Dallas County was scammed out of $2.4 million

Dallas County lost $2.4 million in a fraudulent transaction, here’s what you need to know.

Five things to know about how Dallas County got scammed out of $2.4 million:

How did the county lose millions?

Scammers used a fake business email address to impersonate one of Dallas County’s contractors, and the county apparently paid the criminals $2.4 million when the county was billed. Dallas County has yet to release further detail about the scam, but said the hackers were engaged in “social engineering,” which is defined as psychological manipulation to trick users to make security mistakes or give away sensitive information.

When did this happen?

Dallas County became aware of the fraudulent payment Nov. 17. Specifics are unknown, but the county was first alerted to the bad wire transfer in mid-November. It is unclear why more information was not released sooner.

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Who is looking into the fraud?

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The county says it has notified the FBI of the ruse, but the FBI has yet to confirm whether an investigation is underway.

Was this the related to a recent cyberattack on the county?

The incident is not related to an October cyberattack that ended in hundreds of files of county information being posted on the dark web. Dallas County’s Administrator Darryl Martin said this wire transfer is separate from the attack by the ransomware group Play, who hacked into the county system and stole data.

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What’s going to happen next?

Tuesday’s county commissioners’ meeting includes an agenda item on a security audit for the department that authorizes payments – the auditor’s office. Commissioners will likely discuss details in executive session.