After the City of Ottawa fell victim to an online scam that resulted to $558,000 lost, it seems that almost all of the lump sum amount will be returned according to the city’s chief financial officer in a memo to councillors.
Last April 11, 2022, the city’s office released over half a million dollars to an unknown entity after fraudsters hacked into the email address of a local Salvation Army director. The city learned about the “possible irregularity” after spotting the payment made by the city. The report would reach the council on April 14. At first, officials could not provide any details about how money was lost. Officers solely noted that the target of the cyber attack was a “partnering agency.”
A report from the city to its financial institution, the Ottawa Police Service, and auditor General went out not long after. Collaborating individuals and offices would then work together to retrieve the lost funds. An outside legal counsel would also join the effort.
The first sum returned amounted to around $355,000, with another $168,000 being frozen and in the process of returning to the city’s accounts. All in all, the city expects to retrieve almost all of the funds. In a later date, staff in the city office confirmed that the partner agency that had been affected was the Salvation Army Booth Street Centre, which receives funding from the City of Ottawa.
According to court reports, the hackers broke into executive director Marc Provost’s email account around March 23. They then created a website called “saocrb.org,” which mimicked the Salvation Army’s original website and sent a message to an Ottawa City program coordinator to switch to that website’s remittance portal for city partnership and funding.
The city has been victim to several scams before. As cyber attacks grow rampant worldwide, the City of Ottawa has committed to responding with utmost urgency to such attacks.
