The Egyptian Theatre on Park City’s Main Street was recently hit with some bad news.
Theatre manager Randy Barton said a hacker accessed the nonprofit's bank account, taking more than $60,000.
“A week ago we just got noticed that $65,000 was missing from our account that had been wired to someone that we had no idea who they were,” he said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” July 8.
Barton said the attack was sophisticated. Normally, the Egyptian receives emailed transaction notifications, but the scammer hacked that too.
“They had been able to get into the email also and put in some scenarios that if you receive an email from Zions Bank, forward it to this email address, so we didn't find out about it,” he said.
Barton said the wire fraud was discovered because the hackers got greedy. Someone had called the bank trying to increase the wire amount. That’s when the bank flagged the transaction as suspicious.
It’s unclear if insurance will cover the loss, but Barton said it’s a big setback regardless. As a nonprofit, much of that money came from donors and grants. However, he said no donor information was compromised.
Park City Police Lt. Danielle Snelson said the department is investigating the wire fraud. She said it regularly deals with scammers asking for money through wire transfers, various apps and cryptocurrency.
Snelson’s best advice to avoid scams and hackers is to slow down.
“A lot of times the scammers will pressure you to act quickly,” she said. “They’ll tell you that your accounts will be shut off or your phone will be shut off if you don’t do this within the next 30 minutes.”
Snelson said scam emails are becoming more common. If payment is requested through email, she said people should go directly to the source to be sure it’s real.
The same goes for callers claiming to be from the bank. Hang up and call a trusted bank number instead.
Snelson also warns against clicking links in emails and text messages.
“If you click on that link, they could potentially access your phone directly, which would lead to them accessing accounts and things like that,” she said.
Snelson suggests regularly checking financial accounts to catch potential fraud early.
She said acting fast is your best chance to stop the theft and prevent further damage.
