MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The City of Memphis lost $773,000 after falling victim to a phishing scam in February 2022, city officials confirmed Wednesday morning.
Officials said the money was lost in an incident with Automated Clearing House, a system used for electronic funds transfer. According to a statement, regular payments are sent to the Zellner Construction company, but the city one day received a request to change account details and then wired $773,000 to that account.
The city later learned the request had come from a scammer pretending to represent Zellner Construction. Once the mistake was realized, the city said it was too late to retrieve the funds back.
The city had no further comment on the incident.