Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
Chronicle Managing Editor Cathy DeDe writes: Warren County Administrator John Taflan tells The Chronicle that the County has received $256,000 back from the electronic payment scam that rocked the County on New Years Eve.
“The Secret Service provided [it] back to us,” Mr. Taflan said.
This is in addition to the $1.2 million already recovered shortly after the fradulent payment scheme was discovered and the scam bank accounts were frozen.
Members of the County Treasurer’s Department electronically deposited two payments amounting to more than $3-million into bogus accounts at the request by phone of scammers purporting to be Peckham Industries.
The full scam amount was over $3,358,000. The county is still out almost $2 million in the case.
Mr. Taflan said, “There have been rumors that there’s between $600,000 and $800,000 in funds that are potentially frozen,” and might be recovered, “but we haven’t gotten any indication that we’re going to get any of that back yet.
“We’re waiting for the Sheriff (County Sheriff Jim LaFarr) to complete his investigation and provide a report on this.”
Mr. Taflan said the county is also waiting to hear when or if State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli’s office will conduct an independent investigation into the incidents, as Kevin Geraghty, Chair of the County Board of Supervisors, requested last month.
Copyright © 2026 Lone Oak Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserve
