Tewksbury Loses $102,000 In Phishing Scam

TEWKSBURY (CBS) – Tewksbury lost $102,000 in a phishing scam, the town manager said Wednesday.

Town Manager Richard Montuori said they received an email from what appeared to be a regular vendor back in late December asking for a payment via wire transfer.

In a statement, Montuori said the town has been making payments with wire transfers since the start of the pandemic "to accommodate vendors who were working from home and could not conveniently receive checks via mail at their offices."

A payment to this vendor was made in late January and the town later learned the email and wire request were "fraudulent and part of a pervasive multinational spree of email phishing attempts."

The police, FBI and the vendor were all notified about the scam. Montuori ordered a freeze on any new wire transfers.

The town hopes to get back as much as $92,500 from its insurance coverage.

"This is a very unfortunate incident, but we are certainly mindful that it could have been much worse," Montuori said in his statement. "We have learned from this experience and are confident that our policy and procedure changes will leave us better prepared in the future."