By: DANNY ADLER
The Intelligencer
Some people in Eastern Europe stole $69,260 by hacking into the Northampton municipal authority's payroll account, according to investigators.
Law enforcement officials from various agencies are conducting a criminal investigation and efforts are being made to recover all the money.
Nearly $28,000 had been recovered as of June 25, municipal authority Executive Director Tom Zeuner said Thursday.
Basically the hackers got money from the authority's account and transferred it into the individual accounts of people contacted in the U.S. These people, called dupes, then forwarded the bulk of that money to an account or accounts in Europe, Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler said.
The dupes were told by e-mail they were playing a role in starting a new Eastern European business and could earn a little cash if they made the transfer. Heckler said the dupes had no idea they were dealing with thieves. The hackers' pitch to the dupes was one that seemed "somewhat plausible" and was not the most obvious of e-mail scams, the DA said.
The recovered cash was the money paid to the dupes for transferring the funds.
Some $41,000 hasn't been recovered, but Fox Chase Bank has agreed to credit Northampton Bucks County Municipal Authority with about half of that amount.
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A news release by the municipal authority said the payroll account was "electronically compromised by some unknown third party" on March 2. The authority immediately notified law enforcement, Northampton police Detective Chuck Pinkerton said Thursday. Computer crimes experts from various agencies are helping with the investigation, he said.
The DA's office said it is reaching out to the FBI because of the international scope of the crime, Heckler said.
Kerry Lynch, the Hatboro-based bank's chief payments officer, said Fox Chase Bank has security procedures in place "that should prevent this sort of thing."
"There are very sophisticated hackers out there who are able to put malware on users' computers," he said. Exactly how it happened in this case, he said, is conjecture.
Heckler urges everyone to change their online passwords regularly, keep virus protection programs up to date and frequently monitor bank accounts.
Danny Adler can be reached at 215-949-4205 or dadler@phillyBurbs.com
July 09, 2010 02:54 AM
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