More than $1 million stolen from Tallahassee City Hall by scammer posing as vendor

The Tallahassee Police Department in conjunction with the U.S. Secret Service is investigating the theft of more than $1 million from City Hall — a "cybercrime" carried out by someone posing to be a city vendor.

City officials reported Thursday to TPD's Financial Crimes Unit that "more than a million dollars in city funds had been stolen from an outside source," according to a city news release.

"TPD takes any allegations of fraudulent activity seriously and will work tirelessly to investigate them thoroughly," the city said in a news release. "Detectives are working diligently with the Secret Service to recover the city’s funds and ensure justice is secured in this case."

City Commissioner Curtis Richardson told the Tallahassee Democrat on Friday that the theft was carried out by someone pretending to pose as a city vendor and that a similar crime had occurred in Fort Lauderdale. He said City Manager Reese Goad called him to brief him about the matter.

“Apparently, the person who received the money posed themselves as the vendor that legitimately should have been paid, and from the little bit of information I’ve gotten so far from the city manager, that’s how this all transpired.”

Richardson said Goad told him that in the Fort Lauderdale case, the city got its money back.

“We’re hoping that under our circumstances as well, we’ll get the money back,” Richardson said. “They are on top of it, and staff is working feverishly to get it resolved.”

Alison Faris, the city's director of communications, called the incident a "cybercrime" in an emailed statement, though she did not provide details.

“The city is appreciative of the diligent efforts of the Tallahassee Police Department and United States Secret Service to bring resolution to this cybercrime incident as quickly as possible," Faris said.

Assistant City Manager Christian Doolin told the Tallahassee Democrat the city’s No. 1 priority was recovering the money and making sure justice is served. He said the investigation is “moving fast.”

“The pace is important in these scenarios just specifically for recovery of anything that could be stolen,” Doolin said.

What happened when Fort Lauderdale fell victim to $1.2 million phishing scam?

Last September, the city of Fort Lauderdale paid a $1.2 million invoice that appeared to be from a construction vendor who was building the city’s new police headquarters but was actually involved in a nationwide construction fraud scheme, according to the U.S. Secret Service.

The Fort Lauderdale Police Department learned of the incident and was able to trace and successfully recover the money. Media outlets reported that the money was stolen in a phishing scheme and was tied to a romance scam involving a number of victims.

The Fort Lauderdale PD announced that it had recovered the money in January. In that case, Fort Lauderdale police worked with the U.S. Secret Service, the FBI and law enforcement in Mariposa County, California, Avondale, Arizona, and Lee's Summit, Missouri.

It is unclear when and how the Tallahassee theft actually took place and whether this is a result of a similar scheme. Calls to TPD were not returned.

Also unknown is whether the case has anything to do with the new TPD headquarters, which is under construction at the old Northwood Mall site. Doolin referred such questions about the circumstances of the case to TPD.

A local Secret Service representative said the agency cannot give comment on any active investigation.

It's fairly routine for the city to make large, six- or seven-figure payments to vendors for a variety of goods and services.

The city's online checkbook shows that it purchased more than $4.3 million in natural gas from six different vendors on Feb. 28, 2024. One of the nine transactions involved an amount just over $1 million. It’s unknown whether the stolen money could have involved any of those expenses.

The last large-scale theft at City Hall happened in 2019

This is the second time a large-scale theft was reported by the city of Tallahassee in recent years. In 2019, nearly $500,000 was stolen from the city's payroll after a foreign entity breached the city's third party vendor.

An investigation, that also involved the Secret Service, revealed that the cyber-attack redirected the automatic deposits of 192 city workers, pointing to numerous holes in the security protocols of the payroll application.

Of the $499,000 stolen, roughly 83%, $410,000, was recovered, and all the employees were compensated.

Breaking & trending news reporter Elena Barrera can be reached at ebarrera@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @elenabarreraaa.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: More than $1 million reported stolen from city of Tallahassee