Baltimore lost more than $800,000 to a fraudster who tricked employees at Baltimore City’s Department of Accounts Payable (AP) into changing a vendor’s bank account information, according to a report by the city Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released Wednesday.
The scheme ultimately diverted $1.52 million in city funds, but $721,236 was recovered, per the report. The city is still out $803,384.
The accounts payable department was moved from the Department of Finance to the Comptroller’s Office in January 2023, the OIG said.
How did the scheme unfold?
According to the OIG, the fraudster, who was not named in the report, began the scheme in December 2024 by submitting a fake supplier contact form in Workday using the name of a real employee of a city vendor…