Broken Bow Public Schools, (Brian Neben, Central Nebraska Today)
BROKEN BOW — Transparency and accountability are cornerstones of our commitment to the Broken Bow community, and it is in that spirit that we want to inform you of a serious incident that recently occurred.
Earlier this spring, the district experienced a cybersecurity event involving a fraudulent ACH transfer related to our ongoing construction project. A $1.8 million payment intended for a contractor was mistakenly sent to a fraudulent account after we received a sophisticated phishing email containing false payment instructions that appeared to come from a trusted vendor.
We immediately launched a full investigation and began working closely with multiple authorities, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Nebraska State Patrol, and the U.S. Secret Service.
Thanks to their efforts and swift action by our district team, we have successfully recovered nearly $700,000 of the stolen funds to date.
We are currently pursuing the recovery of additional funds through our insurance provider. While this is an incredibly unfortunate situation, we want to reassure our patrons of the following:
- The construction project will continue as planned without interruption.
- There will be no tax increases to cover the financial shortfall.
- The district remains in a strong financial position due to careful planning and conservative budgeting.
- We have immediately implemented new protocols and safeguards in our district office regarding wire/ACH transfers and financial transactions to prevent this from happening again.
We are committed to keeping our community informed and to taking every possible step to safeguard public funds. Broken Bow Public Schools takes full responsibility for the fact that these safeguards were not in place, as well as full responsibility for this unfortunate circumstance.
We also want to share that the reason we did not make a public statement earlier was to allow law enforcement officials the necessary time and space to conduct a thorough investigation.
Thank you for your continued support and trust in Broken Bow Public Schools. Any questions should be directed to Darren Tobey, Superintendent of Broken Bow Public Schools.
