Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Texas School District Loses $2.3M to Phishing Scam

  • By Yvonne Marquez
  • 01/13/20

Manor ISD, located outside of Austin, TX, lost $2.3 million in an email phishing scam. Three separate fraudulent transactions happened in November, according to the Manor Police Department. A district employee noticed the discrepancies in December and alerted the police.  

Detective Anne Lopez told a local news station that she frequently sees people and businesses fall victim to online scammers but not of this magnitude involving a school district.

Phishing email scams are attempts to access personal information and can happen by using disguised emails, fake links, ransomware, etc. The police didn’t specify how exactly the illegal transactions happened.

Police and the FBI are still investigating but say they have "strong leads." It’s unclear if the district will get the money back.

Police are warning people to verify links and email addresses before clicking on them or entering information online.

About the Author

Yvonne Marquez is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Zurn Elkay Releases 2025 Sustainability Report

    Zurn Elkay Water Solutions recently announced the release of its annual sustainability report, according to a news release. The 2025 report discusses the organization’s efforts to maintain good environmental stewardship and the solutions provided in helping customers meet sustainability goals.

  • New Arizona Fine Arts School Reaches Construction Milestone

    Construction of the new Hilltop School for the Arts and Theater in Litchfield Park, Ariz., recently hit a significant milestone, according to a news release. The Agua Fria High School District held a beam-signing ceremony to celebrate the building’s topping out, or the placement of its last structural beam.

  • Chartwells Launches Campus Dining Evaluation Framework

    Contract food-service management provider Chartwells Higher Education recently announced the launch of BLUEPRINT, according to a news release. The evaluation framework was designed to provide a data-driven and customizable roadmap towards optimizing campus dining services and, by extension, the student experience.

  • Spaces4Learning Launches 2026 Education Design Showcase Awards

    Spaces4Learning has opened submissions for the 2026 Education Design Showcase! The awards program launched in 1999 with the goal of celebrating innovative, practical solutions in the planning, design, and construction of K–12 and higher-education facilities. EDS recognizes new developments that help achieve optimal learning environments, as well as the architecture firms that brought the ideas to life.