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Updated 01/06/2010 05:59 AM

Duanesburg Central School District victim of cyber fraud

By: Dayana Perez

The Duanesburg Central School District is going through some financial problems after its bank account lost millions of dollars. Our Dayana Perez has more on an investigation into internet fraud.

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DUANESBURG, N.Y. -- It happened over the course of three days. Millions of dollars, funneled out of the Duanesburg Central School District's bank account and deposited to multiple accounts overseas.

And for administrators...

"It's initially anger and probably outrage," said Duanesburg School Superintendent Christine Crowley.

The district is the latest victim of cyber fraud. School leaders say hackers tapped into their NBT bank account last month and made several wire transfers. The hackers managed to take $3 million and were attempting to take an additional $800,000. The district found out about the fraudulent activity through a call from an NBT bank rep, informing them about the pending wire request.

"I absolutely, personally have trust in the employees of this district, but nonetheless, it's always an ongoing investigation by the FBI and my bias towards my employees in no way impact that investigation," Crowley said.

So far, the district recovered $2.5 million, but remains $500,000 in the red.

"The school board, myself, are working very diligently to analyze what happened, we are working very closely with the bank with the FBI and state police to ensure that moving forward this will never happen to our district again as much as humanly possible," Crowley said.

With a $15 million budget, district leaders aren't sure how the financial loss will affect their programs.

In the meantime, they've opened up new bank accounts with restricted internet access to prevent any future cyber fraud.