BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — Erie County got scammed out of more than $100,000 taxpayer money after being tricked into paying a scam artist pretending to be a local construction firm.
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“It’s not just disappointing — it’s completely unacceptable,” respond Mark Poloncarz, Erie County Executive.
Poloncarz reacting to a scam that cost the county $108,000
In August, the Erie County Department of Works (ECDPW) received an email believed to be from Mark Cerrone, Inc., a local construction company, doing work at the Rath Building in downtown Buffalo.
That email asked for the county to change the bank routing number for payment.
But when the actual construction firm called the county asking for its payment, the county realized the email was fraudulent and the comptroller’s office sent the money to a bank in Texas.
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“Somewhere along the line the comptroller’s office a mistake was made and it should just not happen,” Poloncarz reacted.
Director of operations at Cerrone, George Lodick, tells me hackers took the company’s domain name and reversed two letters — from @markcerrone.com to @markecrrone.com, sending the fake email to the county.
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