Scammers Steal Over $200K From Rockville Volunteer Fire Department

According to a statement released on Thursday, the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department (RVFD) was targeted by cyber criminals in late April. The scammers were able to steal over $200,000 from the RVFD.

Per the statement, “While impersonating a vendor RVFD has been working with, these criminals stole over $200,000 that was meant to be a down payment for the purchase of two new ambulances that will be used to better serve the Rockville community.

Upon learning of this crime, RVFD immediately reported it to the Montgomery County Police Department, the United States Secret Service (who handle cybercrimes related to finances) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. RVFD also updated our allies within Montgomery County Government, who have been immensely helpful throughout this process.

Due to quick action on the part of RVFD’s bank, about half of what was stolen was recovered. Thanks to decades of generosity from the community RVFD serves, we remain in a strong financial position to both complete this purchase and to continue operations as normal.

For years, the department has been at the forefront of both fighting such scams and shutting them down in our county, as we did in 2019 with a scam PAC that preyed on firefighters, veterans, and breast cancer patients.

RVFD, working with law enforcement and our bank, continue the process of attempting to recover the remaining stolen funds. Additionally, RVFD is further implementing even more safeguards to ensure that we remain at the forefront of fighting both identity theft and fires in our community.

For those who would like to contribute to a fund we created specifically for recouping the funds to purchase these ambulances, we welcome donations at www.rvfd.org/donate.

RVFD will provide updated information as we learn more about this crime – in the meantime, we urge everyone to remember that anyone can be a victim of identity theft or other types of cyber-crime. For more information about cyber-crime and ways to protect yourself, visit the FBI’s cyber-crime website at https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/cyber.

Founded in 1921, the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department has grown to become the largest volunteer fire department in Maryland, with a membership exceeding 350 individuals. In 2023 RVFD’s Station 3 had a total of 14,662 unit responses making Rockville Volunteers some of the most active firefighters, EMTs, and paramedics in the nation.”