Seymour's first selectwoman announced that police have arrested a person in connection to a cybercrime that resulted in the theft of $375,000 from the town's Board of Education.
First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis said the town was defrauded of the money last month. A man, identified as 48-year-old Charles Ukasanya, of Gaithersburg, Maryland, was arrested in his hometown Wednesday.
The first selectwoman said town staff saw that fraudulent wire requests were made. Officials believe a phishing attempt impacted a Board of Ed employee.
The board maintains its own finance department separate from the town's finances, according to Drugonis.
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A phisher was able to use the employee's login credentials to access their email account and fraudulently transfer hundreds of thousands of town fund dollars, officials said.
The town doesn't believe a broader network was compromised by hackers. When officials were made aware of the incident, they immediately changed internal financial controls and expedited the addition of IT security precautions. These efforts were done to prevent a hack like this from happening again, authorities said.
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Both Seymour Police and the FBI were notified of the incident and they conducted an investigation. Investigators identified the hacker and secured an arrest warrant.
Drugonis said the town will recover at least $182,000 of the stolen funds. Police are actively working to extradite the hacker back to Connecticut, saying they'll "aggressively pursue asset forfeiture in an effort to recover additional funds."
Ukasanya faces felony larceny charges and is being held on a $60,000 bond. The investigation remains ongoing.
Drugonis said town officials are unable to discuss certain information about the case to avoid further attacks.
