Scamming results in training

Madison County employees will soon begin cybersecurity training at a cost of nearly $10,000 following the recent social engineering scam resulting in over $2.7 million being sent to a fraudster. 

“At this point, I think it’s abundantly clear why I’m presenting this to you all,” County Administrator Greg Higginbotham said on Monday with regard to new training before being unanimously approved by supervisors. 

The county is purchasing 250 licenses of security awareness training by KnowBe4, a cybersecurity company, for a three-year period for a total of $9,582.50. In addition, the county is receiving 250 licenses of an updated email phishing defense for a cost of $7,045 for three years. 

In late March, it was discovered that Comptroller Na’son White had sent $2,741,243.69 in state bond monies meant for the Reunion Parkway project to someone claiming to be the CEO of Hemphill Construction, the contractor on the Reunion projects. 

White sent three payments beginning on Feb. 20, 2024, for $128,989.97. A second payment of $1,073,870.66 was made on March 5, and a final payment of $1,538,383.06 was made on March 12.

On March 11, one of the payments was returned, and White called the fraudster and was given a Bank of America bank account. 

Sheriff Randy Tucker said on Wednesday that as of now, only the $128,989.97 had been physically recovered by the county. Another $1.5 million is currently pending return to the county. Another $500,000 has been identified and is in moving through the process. 

He said the investigation is ongoing and he hopes the county is able to recover all of the stolen money. 

The county had to transfer the $2.7 million balance from the general fund in order to pay Hemphill Construction for the outstanding invoices on the Reunion project.