D.C. Was Scammed Out of $700,000. Now the Treasury Department Is Investigating.

Scammers posing as a city vendor were able to successfully steal almost $700,000 from the city government in Washington, D.C.

The Treasury Department is investigating the theft, which happened in July, city officials told The Washington Post. The hundreds of thousands of dollars had been wired to the scammers' bank account. None of the money has been recovered.

David Umansky, spokesman for D.C. Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey DeWitt, said that the incident has led to stricter security protocols in DeWitt's office, such as now requiring additional confirmation before a vendor changes bank information. The investigation, conducted by the Treasury Department because bank fraud is a felony offense, is ongoing.

According to the Post, the scammers were able to impersonate the vendor Winmar Construction after a hacker created a fraudulent email address after gaining information from the vendor. The hacker altered one letter in the company's domain and used this address to communicate with the D.C. Department of General Services.
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