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Fake construction boss steals $1m from City of Saskatoon

Police, banks, and auditors in the Canadian city of Saskatoon are scrambling to track down a fraudster who impersonated the chief financial officer of one of the city’s contractors in order to divert C$1.04m to a personal bank account.

Electronically posing as the CFO, the fraudster requested a change of banking information and the city complied, sending the next scheduled contract payment to the fraudster’s account.

The scam was discovered on 12 August and revealed yesterday.

Upon discovering the robbery, the city notified its internal auditor, the Saskatoon Police Service and other authorities including banking institutions.

"Our focus at this time is on recovery of the funds," City Manager Jeff Jorgenson said. "We have experts engaged from our internal auditor, the banks affected, and the Saskatoon Police Service.  

"Additionally we have external and internal experts pouring over financial transactions and processes to do everything reasonably possible to protect the city from any further attacks."

Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark said it was "a serious criminal matter".

Because the investigation is ongoing, the did not disclose further details, including name of the construction company affected.

Image: Saskatoon City Hall (Trekphiler/CC BY 3.0)

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