INVERNESS, Fla. (WFLA) — The Citrus County School Board recently became the target of a sophisticated fraud scheme in which investigators said someone outside of the state tried to get away with over $800,000 in fraudulent transfers.

The money, totaling $846,864.86, was initially intended to go to a trusted vendor as payment for a construction project, the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office said. However, school officials realized something was wrong when the vendor said they had not received the money.

According to investigators, the school board was able to confirm the payment had been made but realized too late that it was sent to someone pretending to be the vendor. Deputies said the suspect had emulated the vendor’s email and provided a falsified account number.

It’s a type of cyber fraud officials said is known as business email compromise, or BEC. Typically, BEC occurs when suspects use email to trick someone into thinking they’re a trusted figure and have them send money or divulge confidential company information.

“The moment we discovered this was a fraudulent transaction, we immediately contacted our partners at the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office,” said Dr. Scott Hebert, Superintendent of Schools. “Their swift response, along with the expertise of the United States Secret Service, was instrumental in recovering the majority of the stolen funds.”

Federal investigators were able to identify and freeze $779,604 in two separate bank accounts outside of Florida. Authorities said the funds were returned to the school board, and as of Monday night, efforts were ongoing to find the remaining $67,260.86.

Based on their findings so far, investigators said they believe the suspect is operating outside of Florida and has no known ties to the Citrus County School Board.

Sheriff David Vincent explained why the sheriff’s office initially held off on sharing information with the public in a news release Monday night, stating in part that investigators didn’t want to give the suspect an “upper hand in realizing we were on to them.”

“While many have argued that transparency was an issue in this case, I would counter that with successful prosecution, protecting victims and recovering stolen property for victims will always be my priority in cases like these,” Vincent said. “If that means waiting until evidence is secured, property is recovered, and everything wrapped up in a package with a bow for prosecutors, so be it.”

Dr. Herbert said the school district has since put additional safeguards in place to ensure this doesn’t happen again. All school district staff are being provided additional cyber security awareness training, and the district is working to ensure it has a clear protocol for how to detect, report and respond to cyber incidents.

“The security of our financial resources is paramount, as they directly support our students, staff, and schools,” Dr. Herbert said. “Again, we appreciate the dedication of law enforcement in protecting our district and our community.”

Anyone with further information regarding the case is urged to contact the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office or submit a tip anonymously through Crime Stoppers of Citrus County at 1-866-ANY-TIPS (269-8477).