Scammers dupe Canadian varsity of $9.5m
A Canadian university said Friday it was swindled out of nearly Can$12 million (US$9.5m) in an online phishing scam that fooled staff into transferring funds into the wrong bank accounts.
Hackers posing as a construction company that provided services to MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta sent emails to school employees advising of changes to the company’s banking information, said school spokesman David Beharry.
Before discovering the fraud last week, the school transferred Can$11.8 million (US$9.5 million) into the hackers’ accounts, he said.
University officials realized something was wrong when the construction firm called to ask why it had not been paid for its work.
Beharry said more than a dozen construction firms in the Edmonton area had been targeted in the scam.
Working with authorities, the university was able to freeze Can$11.4 million of the funds traced to three accounts in Montreal and Hong Kong.
But Can$400,000 still remains unaccounted for.
The fraud was one of the largest of its kind in Canada, according to local media.
Beharry said it “came down to human error.”