300,000 € for school construction

How crooks defrauded a small town with a simple trick

The manipulation of the invoice for 300,000 euros was first noticed in the accounts department when fraudsters tried again after the first successful coup.(Bild: Jürgen Radspieler)

Cleverly scamming information with a phone call or obtaining documents under a false name: In Hagenbrunn in the district of Mistelbach, the municipality fell victim to a scam - and transferred €300,000 that was supposed to pay for the construction costs of part of a new school.

If it had been a small matter, Hagenbrunn in the district of Korneuburg would certainly have looked after companies in the region. However, the mega project for a new school with total costs in the millions involved a company that had already worked on the Palmenhaus in Vienna and caused a sensation with a flat 1500 square meter glass façade.

A false call was used to obtain original data - so the coup went unnoticed
The fraud involving a loss of 300,000 euros on this project took place last July. It was only now that a Viennese media outlet broke the story. In his opinion, the mayor was criticized, although the reliable accountant was actually "to blame" or rather the victim of the clever method.

Today, people are more cautious - but new tricks take many by surprise
Which hardly matters, because: Only later did similar cases put a large crane company and a state capital in need of explanation after online scams; before that, PC protection and "AI" tricks were not an issue.

"I get calls all the time, I'm supposed to tell everyone everything in detail, but I'm fully occupied with today's local council meeting," Michael Oberschil honestly admitted during the "Krone" call, admitting that he was completely overwhelmed. The conversation was switched to a quick run-through of the main facts: The Group was actually falling for the scammers - after a fake call, the invoice was intercepted.

As all the details were correct on the original document, 300,000 euros were transferred without hesitation - but to Italy, as only account numbers had been manipulated. The police are investigating.