Tallahassee city manager: Million-dollar theft has prompted increased security measures

It's been nearly five months since the city lost $1 million in a "cybercrime" and while the city has no update on the investigation, they say they've updated their protocols.

While the investigation is ongoing, the topic was brought up at the last city commission by Commissioner Jeremy Matlow. He asked if there were any updates or public information to share.

After consulting City Attorney Amy Toman, Mayor John Dailey answered Matlow by reminding him the investigation was still pending. The investigation is being carried out by the Tallahassee Police Department in conjunction with the U.S. Secret Service.

Commissioner Curtis Richardson wanted to know if the situation has prompted any new measures by the city "to guard against that in the future."

"We're going inspect every time something like that happens, did we follow our processes, do we need to enhance them, and I can tell you we took a real deep dive on this," City Manager Reese Goad said.

Goad didn't go into specifics but said the city has added both personal and cyber measures for the future. A request for specifics to city spokesperson Alison Faris has gone unanswered.

Richardson also asked if this situation has happened elsewhere, with Goad answering yes. Just some hours away down south, a comparable crime was carried out in Fort Lauderdale in a similar fashion with someone posing as a vendor.

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 P.D. announced that it had recovered the money in January.

Arianna Otero is the City Solutions Reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact her via email at AOtero@tallahassee.com or on Twitter/X: @ari_v_otero.