A fake company, unsuspecting 'money mules' and bitcoin: How a Manitoba municipality lost $430K | CBC News

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Over the 2019 holiday season, a cyberattack on the Municipality of WestLake-Gladstone in Manitoba led to the fraudulent withdrawal of almost half a million dollars.

Court documents say that on Dec. 19, 2019, a person logged into the municipality's bank account and changed the password, along with the personal verification questions.

Those withdrawals weren't discovered until Jan. 6, when Halashewski saw 48 bank transfers — each less than $10,000 — going to unfamiliar accounts.Kate Halashewski, WestLake-Gladstone's former assistant CAO, said the municipality discovered the money was missing after the holidays. Police believe the timing of the attack — when staff were off — was not a coincidence.

"The fact that the world is global makes it easy for perpetrators to basically target victims … [from] any area of the world," he said. "I guess … you would hope that you could find a reason, or find where it went before you had to tell somebody," Halashewski said when asked about the delay in telling residents.

It said the municipality was "the target of a malicious cybersecurity breach" in which a "significant" amount of money was stolen from the municipality's bank account.Around town, the rumour mill began churning, with accusations that someone within the municipality was involved — allegations the municipality denied.

Western Financial's statement of defence said there is no coverage for funds-transfer fraud or computer fraud under the municipality's policy.Both Stride Credit Union and Western Financial Group declined to comment as the matter is still before the courts.Imran Ahmad, a cybersecurity expert and lawyer in Montreal with the firm Norton Rose Fulbright, says his law firm was tracking or dealing with 500 cyberattack cases in 2022, up significantly from 320 in 2021.

 

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DefundfakenewsCBC

Cybersecurity is incredibly lacking in our country it's embarrassing

Finally! does a report and it is news! The news is that people are easily manipulated and technology mostly fails because of humans.

Bitcoin is perfect for criminals. Anyone promoting their use should not be trusted. PeePee

Can you imagine when they want you to have a digital Identification and digital currency system where everything you own can be hacked or shut down

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