Public Funds Looted: Warren County, New York Falls Victim to $3.3 Million Scam Impersonating Peckham Industries, Inc.

We, Warren County, New York, were aggressively targeted and financially harmed by a sophisticated and calculated business email compromise and vendor-impersonation phishing scam that resulted in the wrongful transfer of $3.3 million in public, taxpayer-funded money, after crucial fraud warnings failed to reach our Treasurer’s Office, the unit solely responsible for processing and safeguarding vendor payments. In December, an unknown scammer impersonating Peckham Industries, Inc. contacted our office while posing as a legitimate company employee, convincingly referencing real county contracts, exact invoice numbers, and precise dollar amounts, and successfully pressured staff into wiring $2.1 million on December 12 and $1.2 million on December 22 to fraudulent bank accounts instead of the legitimate contractor, which held $4.5 million in county contracts in 2025 for paving, roadwork, materials, and culvert repairs. This fraud unfolded despite Peckham Industries, Inc. issuing a clear and explicit warning in July—sent by both email and U.S. mail—that criminals were actively impersonating the company and attempting to redirect customer payments, a warning that was delivered to other county departments but never forwarded to the Treasurer’s Office, leaving us dangerously uninformed and exposed. The phishing communications we received were highly sophisticated, mimicked legitimate company email domains with minimal alterations, included authentic-looking invoices, and exploited sensitive payment details, enabling scammers believed by investigators to be operating from within the United States to begin withdrawing stolen funds from New York ATMs shortly after the transfers. Although investigators have advised that $1.2 million from the second payment is expected to be recovered, the status of the remaining funds remains uncertain, raising serious concerns that Warren County taxpayers may ultimately bear the financial consequences of this crime, which is now the subject of active investigations by the FBI, New York State Police, the State Comptroller’s Office, and local law enforcement, underscoring a severe breakdown in internal communication that directly enabled the theft of public funds.