Hacker makes off with $38,000 from hotel
By Andy Steinke, Dells Events
The Lake Delton Police Department ended its investigation of a felony identity theft and fraud case this week involving the owner of Skyline Hotel, without identifying the culprit.
Skyline Owner Drew Purta visited the police department April 2 saying he was the victim of identity theft, according to a police report. He told police someone had hacked into his bank account and withdrawn $38,000.
The theft happened March 30, and Purta was contacted by his bank, Amcore Bank in Baraboo, April 1.
He initially requested Lake Delton Police file a report for his insurance company, but later said he wanted the department to investigate the crime.
Sunday, Investigator Kurt Goodreau ended his investigation after speaking with Brad Metras at the bank.
Goodreau reported he believes Purta was “the victim of some type of Nigerian scam.”
The hacker who had stolen Purta’s money deposited it into five banks. Amcore Bank put a stop on the transactions as soon as it was notified of the theft.
The bank manager told Lt. Janet Klipp in April that it would take time before he would know for sure how much money would be returned to Purta.
Two of the five banks returned $16,750 to Purta, Goodreau reported, and Amcore Bank reimbursed him $10,000, but isn’t accepting any blame in the case.
Metras said he believes someone, or some people, hacked into Purta’s computer and committed the crime remotely through his business.
Metras said the bank’s information technology specialist was unable to trace the IP addresses that were used to commit the crime, and thinks the suspect(s) has a high degree of computer skills and some knowledge of the banking industry.
The banks that were used to make the deposits were not able to identify the person who withdrew the funds.
The hacker logged into Purta’s account three times: the first time to create a new administrative user and the second and third time to take the funds.
Goodreau said he will contact the FBI to see if it would look into the crime.