ASHFIELD, MA (FRANKLIN COUNTY NOW) — The Ashfield Select Board has informed the community of a $47,000 payment fraud incident connected to an invoice for their solar project, and in response they have reported the incident to their bank, filed a police report and consulted with legal counsel, and they are working with finance partners to strengthen protocols to prevent future incidents. 

From the Ashfield Select Board:

We are writing to inform you of a payment fraud incident connected to an invoice for our solar project, and to explain the steps we are taking in response.

What happened: Earlier this summer, we received a legitimate invoice from our solar project vendor, Solect, for work completed on the project. Shortly afterward, we received follow-up emails — appearing to come from the same company — requesting that payment be made by ACH transfer instead of check. This is a common and normal payment method, so the request did not raise concern at the time.

We later confirmed that while the original invoice was genuine, the follow-up emails were not. Scammers had inserted themselves into the email conversation using a nearly identical company email address (differing by a single letter, Solects.com vs Solect.com) and a matching signature. Payment of $47,000 was sent via ACH based on the fraudulent instructions.

We did not discover the fraud until Solect followed up about payment several months later, and we compared records. At that point, it became clear the funds had been redirected to a fraudulent account.

What we’ve done since discovering the fraud:

• Reported the incident to our bank, whose cybersecurity team investigated. The bank confirmed the receiving account was drained and closed within about a week of the transfer.
• We are filing a police report and consulting with legal counsel and our insurance provider about next steps, including possible recovery of funds.
• We are working with our finance partners to strengthen our protocols for verifying and processing ACH payment requests going forward, and are pausing new ACH arrangements in the meantime.

What this means for the town: This was a sophisticated scam — sometimes called “invoice” or “vendor impersonation” fraud — that has affected many organizations, public and private. We are treating this matter seriously and are committed to full transparency as the investigation and any recovery efforts move forward. We will provide updates as more information becomes available.

We understand this news may raise questions, and we are happy to address them as appropriate given the ongoing investigation.  We encourage everyone to be vigilant and careful with electronic transactions.