Rockville Volunteer Fire Department loses over $200K in wire transfer
ROCKVILLE, Md. (DC News Now) — The Rockville Volunteer Fire Department recently lost over $200,000 in a wire transfer while attempting to purchase two new ambulances for the station.
“We’re used to emergencies, we’re used crisis,” said Eric Bernard, president of Rockville’s Volunteer Fire Department. “We are not used to somebody trying to steal from us, so to say we’re shocked is the least of our reaction.”
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Bernard, who oversees over 300 volunteers at his station, told DC News Now that his fire department lost $220,000 because someone impersonated a vendor that the station usually works with.
The money they lost, Bernard said, served as a deposit for two ambulances they wanted to purchase. It was their attempt to replace current ambulances that are nearing the end of its lifespans.
“Unfortunately, we did not find out until almost five days after the wire transfer went through,” Bernard said.
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He said the investigation is still underway and that the money was lost while his station was in communication via email with who they believed was a vendor.
According to Bernard, the email thread was hacked during the wire transfer process and the intended bank account number was altered to send money to a different bank account that authorities believe is overseas.
“We definitely deal with emergencies everyday,” Bernard said. “We have never in our 103 years dealt with theft like this.”
As of Tuesday, half of the deposit Bernard’s team made to purchase ambulances has been recovered, but it can take several weeks for his team to recover the rest of it, Bernard said.
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Despite the currently loss, Bernard said his team is working on recuperating the money through fundraising initiatives. But the other half his team lost, may be permanently gone due to the nature of when they found out the money was missing.
“Since we didn’t find out for days after since the scam occurred, the likelihood of recovering that is slim,” he said.
The daily operations at the Rockville fire station is not expected to be impacted.
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