Scammers fleece $4.8 million from small New Jersey school district

🔴 Nearly $5 million meant for the Spotswood school district was stolen

🔴 Some funds were recovered but the cyber theft still leaves them down millions

SPOTSWOOD — Nearly $5 million has been stolen from a school district in Middlesex County after it was tricked by a cyber criminal, according to local officials.

It's a major loss for the Spotswood Public School District, which had an operating budget of $36.5 million in the 2023-24 school year.

Spotswood serves around 1,700 students from pre-k through 12th grade, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

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Local Mayor Rich O'Brien only recently announced the shocking thefts, which he said happened weeks ago. He couldn't talk about the situation due to an ongoing investigation by the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.

According to O'Brien, the borough meant to send two wire transfers to the school board for the district's use.

Wire transfers diverted to scammer’s account

The first wire transfer, which was around $3.3 million, was sent in mid-September. The second transfer on Oct. 10 totalled $1,474,820.70.

But the borough employees and the school board didn't realize they had been spoofed by a scammer online. The money never made it to the district.

"We have already implemented additional procedures, both in our IT network and internal processes, to prevent this from happening again," the Spotswood mayor said.

Town recovers part of stolen money

O'Brien said investigators managed to retrieve the full value of the second wire transfer, plus $233,000 from the first.

Still, the district remains down around $3 million.

In the short term, the state will provide any funds needed to cover a potential budget shortfall, O'Brien said in a press release. They're also working with the district's insurance carriers to cover the funds.

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