Okla. church's bank account hacked, over $85K stolen
Quick Summary
- Immanuel Southern Baptist Church in Oklahoma had its bank account hacked, resulting in over $85,000 stolen.
- The church discovered the theft on Sunday, with only $20,000 remaining in the account at that time.
- An investigation is ongoing, with suspicions of unauthorized software installation contributing to the breach.
A church in Oklahoma recently had its bank account hacked by an unknown party, resulting in more than $85,000 stolen over multiple weeks.
Immanuel Southern Baptist Church of Wagoner became aware of the hacking on Sunday, which ultimately resulted in $85,907.27 being stolen from their account, Baptist Press reported.
By the time the church became aware of the hacking, only $20,000 remained in the account. On Monday, that amount had been removed, restored, and then removed again by the unknown party.
The investigation into the theft is ongoing, with one theory suggesting that the theft occurred because a keylogger — a surveillance program that tracks all keystrokes — was installed without the church’s knowledge.
The church treasurer noted on Sunday that 16 suspicious withdrawals had occurred in the past few weeks, all tied to a fictional company in Indiana. But the church reportedly never received a fraud alert for these unusual transactions.
Rick Boyne, pastor at Immanuel, told BP that he spent Monday and Tuesday sorting out the issues caused by the hacking and created new accounts for his church.
“I also took our laptops in to get them completely wiped,” Boyne said, adding that Immanuel was implementing measures to prevent the hacking of their account from occurring again.
According to its website, Immanuel describes itself as “a dynamic church” that is “fully grounded in the Word of God (the Bible) and centered on Jesus Christ.”
“Our mission is very simple: to lead people to honor and glorify Jesus Christ,” the church stated. “That means we’re not about a building or some complicated religious system, but about helping people from all backgrounds discover the joy that comes from knowing and serving Jesus Christ.”
In 2011, the Catholic Diocese of Des Moines in Iowa garnered headlines when a cyberattack resulted in the theft of around $680,000 that had been raised to benefit abused and homeless women.
"It's gone," Bishop Richard Pates told CBS News at the time. "You kind of have to take a deep breath and you have to trust in the Lord."
The diocese would eventually have its losses covered by insurance and its bank.
