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PR OP ER T Y
Mayor Frank Wilkie addresses the media on council’s $1.9m loss to fraud. (Rob Maccoll)
$1.9mil AI fraud a press conference Tuesday morning.
Noosa Council was the victim last December of a “well-organised cyber fraud” that used “sophisticated social engineering AI techniques” to extract a financial amount of $1.9 million, CEO Larry Sengstock and Mayor Frank Wilkie announced at
“We haven’t been able to divulge this information until now because it’s been subject to an international and national investigation and we were obliged to stay quiet on this,” Mr Sengstock said.
The Australian Federal Police Joint Policing Cybercrime Centre advised council this was a highly sophisticated, strategic fraudulent incident. Mr Sengstock said the attack was made by an international group with an initial amount of $2.3 million removed and the money quickly taken
overseas but $400,000 had been recovered. He said police were aware of the group and had contacted council about the cyber attack but council had been unable to make any public comment on the matter during the initial investigation by AFP, Queensland Police and Interpol. Continued page 4
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By Margie Maccoll