Business is booming for cybercriminals that target businesses by pretending to be a legitimate supplier and sending a fake invoice. Reports emerging from Australia suggest that this scam isn’t isolated to the private sector.
According to reports from iTnews published Monday (Aug. 17), New South Wales officials have released information regarding an invoice scamming scheme that hit Sydney TAFE, a public education provider with several colleges across the country.
An employee at the Macquarie Fields TAFE campus reportedly abused his senior position at the institution to register his own company as an official supplier of TAFE then approved invoices to be paid straight into his own account. The scheme reportedly yielded $1.25 million in scammed funds for the employee, Ronald Cordoba.
According to officials, the employee has been suspended on full pay since August of last year.
The findings were released by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), which focused its analysis on how Cordoba was able to bypass the three-way match system used by TAFE’s procurement unit. The process requires suppliers to register with the Department of Education’s SAP finance system, reports said, then have their orders approved by staff. Lastly, a TAFE employee must also approve payment and certify that the supplier has completed its job.
Investigators found that Cordoba even went so far as to create a fake identity, with the name Alicia, to submit invoices.
According to ICAC, Cordoba had his staff register his company into the system. He then approved his own work orders to have procurement funds land in his account. The scheme involved Cordoba billing TAFE for services, including Dropbox licenses and storage hardware, according to reports.
Officials said that even though some of these services and goods were actually used for the TAFE, Cordoba charged more than necessary to the procurement system. Reports said he is suspected of taking home more than $800,000.
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