The Citrus County Sheriff's Office said they are investigating a fraud scheme targeting the Citrus County School Board (CCSB), in which over $840,000 was fraudulently transferred.CCSB officials were first alerted by a trusted ve ndor that a payment for a construction project had not been received. The school board confirmed the payment had been made, but it was later discovered that someone had fraudulently emulated the vendor's email and provided a false account number. Authorities said this type of fraud is commonly known as business email compromise (BEC) and happens when suspects gain unauthorized access to email communications and impersonate legitimate entities to divert funds.CCSO was notified and worked with the United States Secret Service (USSS) to locate the money. Within days of the initial investigation, the USSS identified and froze $779,604 of the $846,864.86. The funds were found in two separate bank accounts outside of Florida. The funds were later seized by authorities, and efforts are ongoing to locate the remaining $67,260.86.Based on current findings, officials believe the suspect operates outside Florida and has no ties to CCSB. This investigation is ongoing. ...read more read less