Full report of scam that cost Cotswold District Council £50,000

They were also unable to recover any of the funds via its insurers, which means the council haven't retrieved a single penny. 

In the report, noted at a Cotswold District Council meeting on Tuesday, September 25, it was also revealed that the scammer tricked the officer of the council, by impersonating a senior council officer.

Emails exchanged included three requests for emergency payments to be made, in the sums of £18,400, £18,200 and £18,900.

The requests, that appeared to be legitimate, were authorised and the payments were subsequently made.

It was also revealed in the report that the council were unable to conduct an in-depth investigation into the matter, but it was correctly reported to police.

After an initial investigation and assessment, police decided no further investigation would take place, with the scammer remaining unknown.

Formal disciplinary action was authorised and taken on the officer who authorised the payments, but this did not result in dismissal.

The report concluded: “The incident was unfortunate and regrettable, but resulted from a genuine human error.”

Lib Dem leader Cllr Joe Harris said at the council meeting: “I was shocked to hear that Cotswold District Council were defrauded, it has raised some serious questions.

“The amount stolen is the equivalent of a 1% increase in council tax, it is simply not good enough.”

Cllr Harris continued by calling on Cotswold District Council leader Mark Arnett to apologise to council taxpayers, and to get in to contact with police to re-open the case.

“We should be relentless in bringing this person to justice,” Cllr Harris added.

In response, Cllr Arnett said: “I am sorry.

“I am not going to write to the police, it won’t get the money back.

“I also feel sorry for the person at the council involved in this.

“We move forward and look to put something in place so something like this doesn’t happen again.”