Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer speaks at a March 2022 news conference in this file photo.

The City of Fresno lost more money to an online phishing scam than initially reported.

Mayor Jerry Dyer held a press conference Thursday on an FBI investigation of a wire fraud scam where the city lost more than $613,737 during Mayor Lee Brand’s Administration in 2020.

News of the wire fraud was first reported by The Fresno Bee on Wednesday, revealing the city lost about $400,000 to a scam by a group posing as a subcontractor working on the Southeast Fresno police station.

In December 2021, the Fresno City Attorney’s Office denied a public records request from The Fresno Bee regarding the wire fraud.

During the conference, Dyer said that his and Brand’s administration kept the information classified at the request of the FBI and that the city was in no way trying to be deceptive.

Dyer said he was made aware of the situation about a month before he took office.

“I made the decision that we were going to share that information with the council, and not keep it from them,” Dyer said. “I asked the city manager for the first council session in January, after assuming office, to put that on a closed session item.”

There was a total of two payments made to “what was believed to the subcontractor performing the work at the southeast station.”

The first payment was wired on Jan. 30, 2020 in the amount of $324,473. The second was wired on March 5, 2020, in the amount of $289,264, for a total of $613,737.

Dyer said that the initial $400,000 figure was a mistake, basing the dollar amount off of information in an email from a city council member.

The information and letterhead on the invoice from the scammers looked identical to previous invoices, with only the account numbers differing, which is why no suspicions were raised, Dyer said.

On April 17, 2020, a financial crimes detective for the Fresno Police Department was assigned to investigate the case, briefing agents from an East Coast FBI field office on April 18.

The investigator was informed the Fresno scam was part of a much larger scheme that included two large municipalities in the Midwest — with one of the municipalities losing double the amount of what the City of Fresno lost.

Dyer said that the City was targeted, as were the other victims, because they had all recently entered into an agreement or contract for construction projects.

The FBI has identified the suspects, Dyer said.

Dyer said he was concerned the information going public could negatively impact the chances of federal agents making an arrest and recovering money.

“There was not an attempt to cover up anything,” he said.

Fresno is the only city victimized by this scheme where the information was publicized, which embarrasses Dyer as mayor, he said. He added he will be more careful when sharing information during closed session meetings.

Fresno Bee Editor Joe Kieta in the Bee’s initial story was quoted as saying that the City denying a public records request from the Bee’s reporter was “troubling.”

“When government officials deny the existence of records that clearly exist, it undermines public faith in the city in general and raises legitimate questions about transparency and whether those charged with handling public money are operating in good faith,” Kieta said Wednesday. “If they kept a nearly half-million-dollar loss secret for almost two years, what else haven’t they disclosed to the public?”

Dyer said had the information not been leaked, the city would have made an announcement about the case in 45 to 60 days.

“The main focus is to get the suspects apprehended, prevent anyone else from being victimized and do everything we can to recover the funds. Then publicly disclose it — and take the internal steps to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Dyer said.

Only about $1,600 has been recovered so far, he said.