Buchanan County Public Schools were recently targeted by a scam that misdirected a payment intended for a contractor working on the county’s new high school, the school division announced Friday.
The school division immediately contacted local law enforcement, who engaged federal authorities, according to a news release sent to reporters by Superintendent Sherry Fletcher.
Multiple investigations are underway, including by the FBI and the Buchanan County School Board, according to the release. An FBI spokesperson declined to comment.
Friday’s announcement said that through “swift response, the scheme was largely thwarted and most of the targeted funds are being returned.”
The news release did not say how much money had been stolen or how much had been recovered, and Fletcher declined to provide more information. The local weekly newspaper, The Voice, reported this week that the school system initially lost $4.6 million.
None of the Buchanan County School Board’s seven members have responded to emails requesting comment about the incident.
A spokesperson for the Virginia Attorney General’s Office said they were not aware of the incident, and Del. Will Morefield, R-Tazewell County, who represents Buchanan County, said he also had not heard from county or school officials.
The announcement also said the school division has engaged outside legal counsel as well as cybersecurity experts to guide response and remediation efforts. Attorneys Benjamin Sweet of Grundy, Kellam Parks of Parks Zeigler law firm of Virginia Beach and John Danyluk of Gentry Locke were copied on Friday’s announcement, though Fletcher did not clarify their role.
Danyluk, who is described as “an expert in data privacy and cybersecurity” on his firm’s website, was also listed as the media contact on the news release. He did not immediately respond to questions sent via email and a call Friday.
The division has notified the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has contributed more than $92 million to construction of Southern Gap High School.
The school, set to open next month following its July 2024 groundbreaking, is meant to replace the county’s four older high schools and consolidate students in a modern 200,000-square-foot facility.
Though it’s not clear precisely what happened in Buchanan County, school divisions nationwide have increasingly become vulnerable to scammers.
An Arkansas school district lost more than $3.2 million through a cybersecurity hack earlier this year, after district officials processed a wire transfer for what was believed to be a legitimate vendor as part of the Pine Bluff School District’s ongoing construction projects, KATV reported.
In California, a “phony construction vendor” was accused of stealing more than $900,000 for two school projects from the Riverside Unified School District in 2024, The Press Enterprise reported.
In some instances, law enforcement is available to recover lost funds, or school division insurance covers the loss. Often, local agencies face calls for improved control and updated fraud training.
