Mount Olive schools say bank, police helped recover nearly all of $257,000 in wire fraud; district updates controls

The Mount Olive Township Board of Education was told a vendor email account was compromised and an unauthorized $257,000 disbursement was processed; district and law‑enforcement partners recovered most of the money.

An administrator speaking to the board described steps taken after staff discovered the irregular payment. "The disbursement was $257,000. We received the check today for $255,000," the administrator said, adding the district will pursue the vendor's insurance for the balance.

Board member Miss Fitzgerald said several neighboring districts have lost substantially larger sums to similar wire‑fraud schemes and praised the quick recovery. "Some of our unfortunate neighboring friends upwards of $750,000. It is a big problem," she said, urging heightened vigilance.

According to the report, Valley Bank's fraud department and the Mount Olive Police Department froze the fraudulent account soon after the incident was reported. District staff also filed police and bank reports, contacted insurance partners and updated internal procedures to reduce the risk of future incidents. The administrator said cyber insurance was available through the district's joint insurance fund but was not needed because funds were returned.

A member of the public, Martin Wellsmuller, pressed the board for transparency, asking why the transaction did not appear on the bill list posted to the board before the fraud was discovered. The district responded that the disbursement had been approved by the board on Feb. 9 and that the payment entry had flowed through the financial software; administrators said they would ensure the ledger shows both the outflow and the subsequent inflow for transparency.

As a result of the incident, the business office said it updated standard operating procedures and added additional internal controls and documentation for large disbursements. Officials said the changes include extra verification steps for changes in bank instructions and additional documentation for large payments.

The board was told the district recovered funds faster than initially expected; administrators said they had been told recovery might take three to four months but the bulk of the loss was returned promptly. The district will continue to follow up with the vendor's insurer for the remaining amount and will report back to the board on any further recoveries or control changes.