Wisconsin School District Loses $450,000 to Bank Impersonation Scam

A Wisconsin school district has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars to a bank impersonation scam.

Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) initially lost $450,000 but has recovered $255,000 and is working to get back the remaining $195,000, reports FOX6 Milwaukee.

The district says it learned it was the victim of bank impersonation fraud and notified authorities on Monday.

MPS has not released details on how or when the fraud happened.

Says MPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius,

“This is a sobering reminder of the sophisticated financial scams that occur every day across the country. We are taking swift and immediate action to strengthen our internal procedures to prevent this from happening…

We also are working with our partners at US Bank to recover the remainder of the funds.”

The district says it is putting short-term and long-term controls in place to protect its finances, but it has not said what those controls include.

Along with the criminal investigation, MPS is running its own internal probe.

Deputy chief financial officer Jennifer Buros will serve as acting chief financial officer, with help from Charles Burbridge of the Council of the Great City Schools.

The $450,000 loss is less than one-tenth of one percent of the $1.6 billion budget the Milwaukee Board of School Directors approved in May for the 2026-27 school year.