Official says MAWC targeted in ‘vendor impersonator scheme’

The authority is keeping details of the incident quiet as it tries to recover its money.

The Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County said Monday that it lost a significant amount of money in what the agency’s top legal official described as a “vendor impersonator scheme.”

“This was not a data breach. It was a vendor impersonator scheme,” said Scott Avolio, the authority’s solicitor. “It was literally a fraud.”

Avolio said the authority discovered the alleged theft last week and is cooperating with its insurance company and federal investigators.

Officials said FBI investigators directed the authority to refrain from disclosing specifics about the alleged theft and the amount of money involved.

FBI spokesman Bradford Arick declined to comment, saying the agency would neither confirm nor deny its involvement in an investigation.

Avolio said the scam did not involve customer records or infrastructure related to the authority’s water and sewer operations. MAWC sells water to more than 122,000 customers in Westmoreland, Allegheny, Armstrong, Fayette and Indiana counties. It also provides sewer services to more than 30,000 customers.

MAWC’s operating budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year is $117 million. Authority board members earlier this year increased water rates by 9%.

Avolio said customers are not impacted by the alleged theft.

“(The theft) was … not significant enough to affect customer operations. This is nothing that impacts the financial security of the authority,” he said.