Someone had a bridge to sell … and this Colorado town fell for the scam.
The town of Erie was duped out of more than $1 million when it sent money meant for a bridge construction company to a fake account, according to a new report.
Erie sent just over $1.01 million to an unknown person posing as an employee of SEMA Construction, the company behind the building of the Erie Parkway Bridge, The Denver Post reported, citing a Monday email blast from Erie Town Administrator Michael Fleming.
The scammer had completed a form on the town’s website Oct. 21 requesting a change in how the company would receive payments for the work, the outlet reported.
“Specifically, the change was to receive payments via electronic funds transfer rather than by check,” Fleming’s email blast said.
“Although town staff checked some of the information on the form for accuracy, they did not verify the authenticity of the submission with SEMA Construction; they accepted the form and updated the payment method.”
Four days later, the town processed two payments to an account not authorized by SEMA — totaling the entire seven-figure amount, according to the report.
“Once the payments were in that account, the perpetrators of this fraud sent the money via wire transfer out of the country,” the email blast said.
Town officials were unaware of what had happened until its bank notified them of potential fraud on Nov. 5, according to the report. When officials contacted…
