Fort Myers housing authority falls prey to email scam

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Nearly $15,000 is missing from the Housing Authority of the City of Fort Myers in the wake of a hacking scam that targeted the executive director’s email.

Executive Director Marcus Goodson said hackers gained access to his office computer, learning he would be out of town on Feb. 17. They waited until he was away from the office and sent an email marked urgent from Goodson’s account to Vicki Collins, the agency’s finance director. It asked Collins to send $14,700 to a bank account in Arkansas.

“The email looked just like the ones we send here,” Goodson said. “So, she sent the money to the bank.”

It’s not unusual for the finance department to receive email orders for money transfers, officials said. But upon returning to his office, Goodson said he was surprised to see the large transfer.

“We called the authorities right away but they (hackers) had closed out the account and taken the money,” Goodson said.

The blunder is particularly embarrassing to the housing authority, which has a budget of $32 million, Goodson said. The agency can’t absorb the loss of nearly $15,000 without it negatively impacting programs and activities.

Goodson now enforces a new policy on wire transfers: no more emails.

“The wire transfers have to be approved by me. Only Vicki will get the request and it has be in writing and verbally, between Vicki and myself,” Goodson said.

The chances of the housing authority getting the money back are slim, even though it filed a police report. The agency is also looking into getting cyber-insurance to cover losses like this in the future.