Check Fraud Out of Control - Greenwood School District
Greenwood Leflore School District Reports Repeated Check Fraud
District finance staff told the school board Nov. 4 that fraudulent checks, altered to list a different vendor, have been repeatedly cashed, with the matter so far reported only to the bank and not to law enforcement.
At the Greenwood Leflore Consolidated School District Board of Trustees' regular meeting Nov. 4, a district official identified in meeting records only as Ms. Jones, reporting on the district's bank statements, told trustees the district has been targeted by check fraud. "So those four checks, those are checks that were fraudulent, where they changed the vendor names and they cashed the checks," Jones said. She added that the scheme traced back to "really like one particular company."
According to the meeting record, the district has contacted its bank regarding the fraudulent checks but had not, as of the meeting, referred the matter to law enforcement or the state auditor's office.
The episode points to a gap in oversight of public funds: the district currently has no electronic-payment system in place that might reduce its exposure to check-tampering schemes, leaving the bank's fraud department as its primary recourse for now. The district has not said how much money is involved or whether further action is planned.