On Aug. 16, 2023, the Mountain Views Supervisory Union, which serves students from Barnard, Bridgewater, Killington, Pittsfield, Plymouth, Pomfret, Reading and Woodstock, was targeted in an electronic fraud scheme, according to a news release shared by the district, Oct. 24. A vendor affiliated with the school district experienced a compromise in their electronic communications, leading them to inadvertently send us fraudulent banking details. This led to the district mistakenly transferring funds to an unauthorized bank account in Indiana.
“We identified the fraud on Sept. 6, 2023, and took swift action,” the district stated. “We reported the incident to our treasurer, our local bank, the Woodstock Police Department, the FBI, and our insurance provider. We are pleased to inform the public that, with the assistance of our bank, we have successfully recovered all misplaced funds. Additionally, our district is fully insured against such fraudulent incidents.”
An in-depth third-party review confirmed that the school district’s electronic communication systems remained secure throughout the incident, and no internal breaches occurred.
As a precautionary measure, the district have also collaborated with its insurance provider to establish new procedures to further safeguard against potential fraud in the future.
