Officials: Texas county falls victim to $525K scam

Published 1:11 pm Wednesday, June 6, 2018

GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — Investigators say a Southeast Texas county appears to be the victim of a $525,000 email scam after government funds meant for road repairs were sent to a wrong account.

Galveston County Treasurer Kevin Walsh says the scam was discovered Monday after county officials reviewed email correspondence with a Houston construction company scheduled to repair roads in San Leon.

Walsh tells The Galveston County Daily News that county officials paid the money to a new account after receiving a request to do so from an unknown entity pretending to be the construction firm. He says the emails and account belonged to a scammer.

Walsh says the deposit error wasn’t detected until the construction company asked why it was taking so long to receive payment.

The sheriff’s office is investigating the incident.