Last year, Chautauqua County was swindled out of more than $150,000.

During the recent legislature meeting, officials approved a number of budget year-end reconciliations. During committee meetings County Finance Director Kitty Crow noted that the county had been impacted by fraud in 2023, which was why the reconciliation was needed.

The county had sent a payment of around $343,000 to someone they believed was a vendor doing a construction project. The county was able to recover $185,000, but was unable to recover the remaining $158,000.

Crow said the scammer requested a different direct deposit account, which they agreed to do.

“It passed two reviews. That’s how credible it looked,” she said.

After an invoice was paid, the scammer requested another payment using a new direct deposit account. Crow said they contacted the vendor to see if they had received the payment and they told the county they had not.

Because of this, the county knew they had been scammed. “We contacted the Sheriff’s Office, we contacted our banks,” Crow said.

The county also changed some of its policies to avoid being scammed again.

The Sheriff investigators were able to subpoena the scammer’s bank account and recover the $185,000 that was still in the account, but were unable to track down the remaining balance.

The county’s insurance refused to cover the remaining portion lost, saying it wasn’t covered under the county’s cyber security policy.

Crow said the Federal Bureau of Investigation was involved in the investigations as well.

County Executive PJ Wendel noted that he has talked to other counties who have been scammed in a similar manner.