An Email Scammer Got $500,000 From Alameda County's Transportation Agency, and Its Insurer Won't Pay

The Alameda County Transportation Commission lost $500,000 in taxpayer-backed money to an email impersonation scam in 2024, and it is now suing its insurer for refusing to cover the loss, The San Francisco Standard reported Thursday.

How it happened

According to court filings described by the Standard, someone got into the email of Jeff Olberding, owner of Folsom-based Rocky Ridge LLC, in September 2024. Rocky Ridge had a $3.67 million contract to plant 1,030 trees on a preserve as part of the $244 million effort to widen Highway 84 and rebuild its interchange with Interstate 680 between Livermore and Sunol. Caltrans and the commission ran that project together, and it is largely funded by the county's transportation sales tax.

The imposter replied to an existing email chain with commission staff, asked them to hold the next payment and supplied new bank details. Staff said they could not verify the information and tried, without success, to reach the real owner by phone. They still agreed to pay by check and mailed $500,000 to an Illinois address, made out to a name the commission says was fictitious.

That check was cashed and the money moved through several banks before being converted to cryptocurrency, which the Secret Service said made it unrecoverable. Weeks later, staff mailed a second check for about $2.5 million to an address in Wilmington, North Carolina, tied to a look-alike company called "Rocky Ridges LLC." The scammer's bank, United Bank, flagged and froze that one, and the real Olberding then alerted the commission.

The fight with the insurer

The commission had a crime policy covering up to $10 million in forgery losses, its lawsuit says. The insurer, an AIG subsidiary, argues the loss is not a forgery because the scammer endorsed the check in the made-up name it was written to. The commission moved the case to federal court last Friday.

Separately, the commission settled on Monday with Rocky Ridge, which had sued for the $500,000 it never received. Terms were not disclosed. The company's attorney told the Standard his client was happy with the outcome and remains a county vendor. The scammer has not been found.

Why it matters

Scams like this, where a criminal poses as a known vendor and asks to change payment details, are common. The Standard noted Fresno lost more than $600,000 the same way in 2020. The basic protection is to confirm any banking change by calling a phone number already on file, and to hold payment until that call happens.