University recovers bulk of cash lost in phishing attack

An Alberta university that was defrauded of $11.8 million in a so-called phishing attack says it has recovered more than 90 per cent of the funds.

Edmonton’s MacEwan University says in a release that legal proceedings to recover the stolen money have concluded and the institution has recouped $10.9 million.

The institution credits recovery of the large sum to the quick response of an internal team at the university, legal counsel in several jurisdictions, fraud units at the banks involved in the transactions and police.

The downtown Edmonton school says it has put stronger financial controls in place and is implementing IT security awareness and training programs for staff and faculty.

The scam occurred last August when a series of fraudulent emails convinced three staff members to change electronic banking information for one of the university’s vendors.

The university didn’t realize what had happened until days later when the vendor — Clark Builders — called asking to be paid.

MacEwan spokesman David Beharry said at the time that most of the missing money — $11.4 million — was traced to a bank account in Montreal and to two accounts in Hong Kong.

He said $6.3 million was seized from the Montreal account and action was taken to freeze the two Hong Kong accounts.