Investigation Concludes $700,000 Stolen From Florida Baptist Convention NOT an Inside Job

Protestia ^ | September 7, 2023 | Magdalene Henah

[Morgana]

Four months after the Florida Baptist Convention informed members that they were the “victim of a highly sophisticated cybercrime” that used fraudulent emails to steal $700,000 earmarked for their Send Network Florida account, an investigatory report concluded there was “no criminal activity on the part of any Florida Baptist Convention staff person” to account for the losses, but instead “the crime was the result of sophisticated cybertargeting by, at this point, unknown perpetrators.”

It’s a small consolation for the convention, which has been reeling from the loss. The report was delivered during their Aug. 24-25 meeting in Jacksonville.

While they are still making efforts to recover the funds, subcommittee members shared they are also implementing stronger protocols to prevent such a crime from occurring in the future, revealing that “the convention is exercising heightened awareness when carrying out financial duties, implementing ongoing training for convention staff, appropriate data security controls, and completing the process to become accredited by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.

[Boogieman]

““victim of a highly sophisticated cybercrime” that used fraudulent emails to steal $700,000 earmarked for their Send Network Florida account”

Working in IT, I can guess what this “highly sophisticated cybercrime” might have been. The usual method is to look at the website, get the names of legitimate officers of a company/organization, then spoof their emails, with logos, etc, so your mail appears to come from the CEO, etc. Then you send emails to everyone in the organization you think might have access to money saying things like “I need to you to pay this invoice today. Please see attached wire transfer information.” Etc.

It’s hard to believe employees will fall for something like that without verifying it, but if your organization is large enough, it’s almost inevitable that someone will.