In September 2024, staffers of the Alameda County Transportation Commission received an email from a contractor who was looking to get paid.
The email, which appeared to be from the head of a Folsom-based company hired for a tree-planting project, directed the commission staff to send $500,000 to a bank account different from the one on file for the vendor. Despite being unable to verify the banking information, the county commission cut a check and sent it to a scammer in Illinois.
Four weeks later, commission staff authorized a $2.5 million check to the scammer, who this time requested that the payment go to a North Carolina address…