Council worker sacked after document falsification

Cambridgeshire County Council was the victim of fraud earlier this year

A council worker whose document falsification left the authority vulnerable to fraud has been sacked.

A fraudster submitted fake documents to Cambridgeshire County Council asking for a change to a home-to-school transport supplier's bank details and four payments totalling £93,000 were made before the scam was discovered in May.

The authority's employee said they had telephoned and spoken to the transport supplier to verify the change of bank details, but in fact they had not.

Papers for a council audit committee meeting on Friday stated: "This is a crucial control and had it been complied with, it is highly likely that the fraud would have been identified and stopped."

The papers add that the "act of gross misconduct in falsifying the checklist allowed the bank details change to proceed".

Funds lost

The council said the fraudster gained access to a supplier's business email account and used this as well as "spoofed email address" to request the change.

It was discovered after the real supplier queried the missing payments, but the funds have been lost and the suspected fraudster has left the country.

A council internal audit investigation found "three critical failures that allowed this fraud to proceed", including that of the council officer in the supplier maintenance team, as well as the supplier disclosing sensitive banking information to the fraudster.

"The investigation also identified some other opportunities to further strengthen existing controls and enhance officer awareness of fraud and phishing red flags as well as vigilance around data breaches," the papers said.

"The supplier maintenance team have already identified and implemented additional controls to strengthen the bank verification process and ensure this is effective, even in the rare event of serious misconduct by a member of staff."

The council said it reported the incident to Cambridgeshire Police and a claim had been submitted to insurers.

A spokesperson for the authority said: "We have learnt lessons and already put actions in place to strengthen our awareness of fraud and what our colleagues need to look out for."