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Fresno lost more than $600,000 to a phishing scam in 2020, but we weren’t supposed to know — yet.

Posted on March 12, 2022 by Dissent

Brianna Calix reports:

THE LATEST: Fresno phishing scam dollar amount soars – and city wasn’t only victim, mayor says

The city of Fresno lost about $400,000 in 2020 after falling victim to an electronic phishing scam, and former Mayor Lee Brand’s administration failed to disclose the loss to the Fresno City Council and taxpayers, The Fresno Bee has confirmed.

Furthermore, the Fresno City Attorney’s Office in December 2021 rejected a public records request from The Fresno Bee seeking city communications regarding the fraud. The city told The Bee no records were located. However, The Bee recently obtained emails that existed prior to the records request.

Read more at The Fresno Bee. And do read the linked update.

Is this a scandal because the city didn’t reveal the breach or is it a scandal because eventually,  the breach did leak to the press despite an ongoing active FBI investigation and request that it not be leaked to the press or public? 

And as to the claim that the city denied a public records request, well, if you word your request too narrowly and there are no “hits” on a search for the words you provided, you cannot totally blame the recipient of the request for that. 

Related posts:

  • Victims of W-2 phishing scams (2017 list)
  • A Notice Regarding a Recent Data Security Incident Affecting Boise State University students
Category: Government SectorPhishingU.S.

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