Fort Lauderdale sends $1.2 million to phishing scammer, city says

Fort Lauderdale was the victim of a phishing scam that tricked the Accounts Payable department into making a payment of $1.2 million to a scammer pretending to work for a local construction firm, City Manager Greg Chavarria confirmed on Wednesday night.

Chavarria sent out an alert to city officials by email at 5:51 p.m. Wednesday.

“Someone sent a request for an (electronic funds) payment pretending to be (a local construction company),” he wrote. “The scammer filled out the paperwork and had a blank check attached. Accounts Payable checked the names and they matched corporate records.”

The city’s bank is working to get the money back, but it will take at least a week, Chavarria said.

The Fort Lauderdale Police Department is working with city officials in IT and Finance to handle the incident, Chavarria said.

Mayor Dean Trantalis was taken aback when a South Florida Sun Sentinel reporter called to get his reaction.

“This is news to me,” he said. “I guess we have to be as cautious as we can.”

Trantalis said he was hopeful the city would get its money back.

“Because it was caught so quickly, the bank should be able to recapture that money,” he said. “Wire transfers take awhile to settle from bank to bank.”

The Sun Sentinel contacted a spokesperson for the construction company, which declined to comment Wednesday night.

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan