Hackers Stole $650,000 From Nonprofit And Got Away, Showing Limits To Law Enforcement’s Reach
LAPPL News Watch
June 9, 2021
Just
before Christmas 2020, hackers began to steal from One Treasure Island,
a nonprofit that is redeveloping its namesake island in San Francisco
Bay as a haven for low-income and formerly homeless people.
Over the
next month, criminals siphoned $650,000 from the community organization.
The money was earmarked as a loan to one of its member organizations
for affordable housing projects on Treasure Island, a man-made strip of
land smaller than a square mile that was built in the 1930s and served
as a Navy facility until 1997.
Sherry Williams, One Treasure Island’s
executive director, discovered something was wrong on Jan. 27, when she
spoke by Zoom with the intended loan recipient, who hadn’t received the
first installment as planned.
“It was absolutely devastating,” said Ms.
Williams, who said she filed reports with the Federal Bureau of
Investigation and other organizations immediately after learning about
the theft.
Ransomware and nation-state hacks dominate public discussions
of cybersecurity. The world watched when fuel pipelines shut down after
an attack at Colonial Pipeline Co. and when corrupted software spread
to companies and government agencies through incidents at SolarWinds
Corp. and Microsoft Corp.
1 comment:
Each week I receive an email from some supposedly legitimate company telling me they are contacting me in reference to either winning a prize or an order that couldn't be delivered. The Company's Logo is prominently displayed but the email address is suspicious. It is called Phishing. I mark these phishing attempts as Spam and never open them. Several years ago Galveston County fell for a billing scam through an official looking email and lost $500,000.00 Seniors are especially vulnerable.
Example: Congratulations! You are already a winner. CVS has selected you to participate in it's customer survey. DO NOT OPEN OR FILL OUT THE SURVEY. The the usual tell-tell scam will be the senders email such as johndoe5213@gmail.com that would never be associated with CVS Pharmacy.
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