{"id":34896,"date":"2026-08-09T18:13:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T13:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=34896"},"modified":"2026-08-09T18:13:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T13:13:28","slug":"pittsburg-says-it-fell-victim-to-913k-nigeria-phishing-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=34896","title":{"rendered":"Pittsburg says it fell victim to $913K Nigeria phishing scam"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F08%2Fpitts-burg.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A California city <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/08\/07\/lifestyle\/san-francisco-man-loses-18k-in-complex-craigslist-rental-scam\/\">got conned <\/a>out of nearly $1 million after <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/21\/us-news\/california-woman-has-life-destroyed-by-evil-dating-app-scam-perfect-victim\/\">scammers posed<\/a> as a construction company, then impersonated a city employee to make sure the bogus payment went through.<\/p>\n<p>Pittsburg wired $913,000 on Feb. 12 to an account it believed belonged to Discovery Builders Inc., the company behind the city\u2019s planned Dream Courts sports and recreation complex.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A mock-up shows the Dream Courts, a recreational facility in Pittsburg, which the city intended to pay for when they sent scammers nearly $1 million. <span class=\"credit\">Discovery Builders<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>An aerial view showcases the layout, residential areas, and industrial presence of a power plant along the waterfront in Pittsburg, California. <span class=\"credit\">Zenstratus \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Officials didn\u2019t realize the money was gone until five days later, when the real builder asked where the payment was.<\/p>\n<p>The scam hinged on a tiny email alteration: A fake Discovery Builders address contained an extra lowercase \u201cL,\u201d according to court records.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>A mock-up shows the Dream Courts, a recreational facility in Pittsburg, which the city intended to pay for when they sent scammers nearly $1 million. <span class=\"credit\">Discovery Builders<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The fraudsters then allegedly hacked the email of Sara Bellafronte, an assistant to the city manager, and impersonated her in messages to a city finance employee.<\/p>\n<p>The fake Bellafronte claimed she had verbally confirmed the new banking information and instructed the employee to update it.<\/p>\n<p>The money quickly vanished through a dizzying chain of accounts, prompting an FBI investigation.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities issued 18 search warrants covering 116 accounts and traced the cash to two US-based suspects and another in Nigeria. <\/p>\n<p>No suspects have been arrested or publicly identified.<\/p>\n<p>Investigators froze the account that received the city\u2019s money, allowing Pittsburg to recover about $696,000.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The city said it has since beefed up payment verification, changed financial workflows and adjusted IT staffing. <span class=\"credit\">Matt Gush \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Officials said they were seeking insurance coverage for the roughly $218,000 still missing.<\/p>\n<p>One Illinois man who received some of the money appeared to investigators to be an unwitting pawn in the scheme, court records say. <\/p>\n<p>Believing he worked for a legitimate company called \u201cTyco Alloy Industries,\u201d he moved the funds and bought about $217,000 in bitcoin, sending it to a cryptocurrency wallet.<\/p>\n<p>Discovery Builders President Louis Parsons said the company didn\u2019t blame the city.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomebody was pretty sophisticated to accomplish this,\u201d Parsons told<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/crime\/article\/pittsburg-phishing-scam-22379640.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> the San Francisco Chronicle<\/a>. \u201cI just feel bad for the city of Pittsburg that they had to deal with this.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Mayor Dionne Adams was born and raised in Pittsburg.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The company has since had a representative physically collect checks from the city.<\/p>\n<p>Discovery Builders, a Seeno family company, ultimately received the full $913,000 within 60 days of learning about the scam.<\/p>\n<p>The Dream Courts project is a planned 42,000-plus-square-foot facility aimed at boosting sports tourism. Pittsburg approved the project in 2020 for no more than $3 million, but rising costs and labor-union negotiations delayed construction.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The city faces an estimated loss of roughly $100,000. <span class=\"credit\">East County News<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Parsons said the facility could be finished within the next 60 days.<\/p>\n<p>The city said it has since beefed up payment verification, changed financial workflows and adjusted IT staffing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis crime is both upsetting and a hard lesson for how we can improve our security. I share the community\u2019s disappointment that criminals were able to exploit our systems,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pittsburgca.gov\/Home\/Components\/News\/News\/3714\/426\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mayor Dionne Adams said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The city faces an estimated loss of roughly $100,000, According <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mercurynews.com\/2026\/08\/06\/pittsburg-staffer-duped-by-scammer-into-sending-nearly-1-million-meant-for-seeno-developers\/amp\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">to The Mercury News<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Pittsburg released details of the scheme Wednesday, saying doing so would no longer compromise the investigation.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A California city got conned out of nearly $1 million after scammers posed as a construction company, then impersonated a city employee to make sure the bogus payment went through. Pittsburg wired $913,000 on Feb. 12 to an account it believed belonged to Discovery Builders Inc., the company behind the city\u2019s planned Dream Courts sports&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/pitts-burg.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}