HUTTO – The city of Hutto has successfully recovered $286,000 involved in two separate external criminal investigations.
In mid-August, $193,000 was transferred out of the city’s bank account at the request of a fraudulent party impersonating a known city vendor. In mid-May, a paper check issued by the city was intercepted, used to produce a counterfeit check for $93,000 and deposited into an account in Florida.
The recovery of these funds came as a direct result of the investigations led by the Hutto Police Department and assisted by the city’s financial institution.
“I would like to commend the detectives from the Hutto Police Department that have been working these cases,” James Earp, city manager, said. “We were able to recover all the funds because of the swift yet thorough actions of these detectives.”
Both external criminal investigations remain open. The Hutto Police Department is working with outside law enforcement agencies to identify the fraudulent party who portrayed themselves as a known city vendor through email, as well as the individual who physically deposited the counterfeit check in Florida.
Internally, the city of Hutto has implemented additional controls surrounding check and cyber security and is updating policies and procedures to more accurately address the digital threats that exist today.
