NEWPORT, Wash. — The city of Newport lost $330,000 to a sophisticated cyber scam that targeted the municipality, city officials confirmed.
It all started with an email that appeared to come from one of the city’s vendors. As the communication progressed, it resulted in the city losing $330,000 of taxpayer money.
“It was kind of an elaborate email scheme,” Newport Mayor Keith Campbell said.
The financial loss represents a significant blow to Newport’s budget, which totals $9 million annually. Campbell says the loss could have noticeable impacts on the city’s budget.
“It’s a deep gouge. It really does hurt. It’s not something that’s recoverable very quickly,” Campbell said.
City officials said they don’t know which services or projects may be affected by the loss, but some summer projects could be impacted.
“That obviously is a concern. We want to be able to continue to do the projects that we have slated for the summer for different projects that we have. Some of the projects will be affected. Others may not be, but we just at this point, we’re just kind of reevaluating and seeing what we can do,” Campbell said.
The city is conducting both internal and outside investigations into the incident, though officials would not identify which agency is handling the external investigation. The FBI may be getting involved in the case.
Campbell expressed hope that some or all of the money could be recovered through the investigation process.
“Hopefully we have some remedies, different things that we can do. That’s all part of that investigation. My hope would be that we could get some, if not all of it back,” he said.
Newport taxpayers have shared their frustrations and confusion about how the city could fall victim to such a scam. Mayor Campbell says the city is trying to figure that out as well.
While the city waits for the investigation to conclude, next steps include reorganizing the city budget and regaining the trust of the community.
“I’m sorry it happened. It shouldn’t have. It shouldn’t have. We take that stewardship very personally and very, you know, we take responsibility,” Campbell said.
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