A cautionary tale from a local business owner who was recently scammed out of tens of thousands of dollars.

Jeff LeDrew of Jumping Bean told VOCM Open Line with Paddy Daly he’s still not sure how it happened, but someone spoofing a bank email, inserted themselves into a thread and redirected an $80,000 dollar payment to themselves.

He says they set up a payment, but due to an error on their end, they sent it to the wrong company. They then contacted the bank to make the change. Everything was set up through the bank, when they received an email, spoofing the bank, saying they had to send the money instead to a different account. Which, it turned out, was the scammer.

LeDrew says he’s still not sure how the spoofer got into the thread.

“I don’t know how they were watching this thread, one which they were watching it…and there it was gone.”