Woman Loses $33,000 in Sophisticated Water and Sewage Fee Scam

Shiri Rot Gal, involved in a construction project, was defrauded of approximately $33,000 (NIS 122,000) through a sophisticated scam impersonating municipal officials. The fraudsters contacted Rot Gal's representative via WhatsApp, posing as employees of the Ramat Hasharon municipality's engineering department. They claimed to be collecting water and sewage development fees, providing seemingly legitimate payment requests with official-looking details and correct amounts.

Initially, Rot Gal paid the requested sum. However, a week later, she received another demand for a similar fee. This time, the payment was to be made to a bank account in a different bank and city, which raised her suspicion. Upon checking with the Ramat Hasharon municipality, she discovered the demands were fraudulent. The scammers had obtained specific project details, including the owner's information, to make their scheme appear credible.

Rot Gal explained that the payment requests were not clickable links but rather files containing bank account details. She highlighted a flaw in the banking system where transfers can be made to accounts even if the beneficiary name provided by the sender does not exactly match the account holder's name, as banks do not verify this match. This allowed the scammers to operate under a false company name, "Sharunim, the water company of Ramat Hasharon municipality."

She reported the incident to the police, providing all available details, including account numbers and phone numbers. However, she expressed frustration that no arrests had been made, and the police could not provide information on the investigation's progress. Rot Gal is exploring the possibility of filing a class-action lawsuit against the banks, citing negligence for not verifying the legitimacy of the accounts used in the fraud. She warned that contractors have been scammed out of millions using similar methods and advised others to always verify such payments directly with the municipality.