Nebraska school district scammed out of more than $1 million

A Nebraska school district said Monday that it was scammed out of more than $1 million earlier this year.

Broken Bow Public Schools said in a news release that it “experienced a cybersecurity event” in the spring that caused it to send a $1.8 million payment meant for a construction contractor to a fraudulent account.

The district said it was the victim of a “sophisticated phishing email containing false payment instructions that appeared to come from a trusted vendor.”

The Broken Bow School system is more than a year into a nearly $30 million project to renovate and expand the high school. Construction is expected to be completed sometime next year.

The news release said the district has been able to recover about $700,000 and is seeking to recover the rest of the money through its insurance provider. It also said that the incident will not delay the project or result in any losses to taxpayers.

The Nebraska State Patrol referred a request for comment about the incident to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which declined to comment.

According to the FBI’s 2024 Internet Crime Report, the amount of money lost to cyber scams in Nebraska is growing. It grew to $46.7 million last year, up from $40.6 million in 2023 and $28.7 million in 2022.