Racine County business loses $162,000 to fraudsters 3,000 miles away in Iceland

WATERFORD — A business owner lost more than $160,000 to bank fraud before officials realized Icelandic fraudsters were pulling off an international ruse, police said.

Competitive Heating and Air-Conditioning LLC in Waterford victims of bank fraudLocated at 820 Forrest Lane in Waterford, Competitive Heating and Air-Conditioning LLC is a locally owned business that lost more than $160,000 to a suspected computer hacker.

Competitive Heating and Air-Conditioning LLC, located at 820 Forrest Lane, was victimized this summer when unidentified criminals posed as a supplier seeking payment.

Waterford Police Department records indicate that the company lost a total of $162,454.

Business owner Matthew Olson said he and his partners have been able to recover about $65,000 in lost funds, but that damage to the company has been severe.

"It ain't good," he said.

Olson owns Competitive Heating and Air-Conditioning in partnership with Paul Van Alstine.

Van Alstine declined to comment.

According to Waterford police records, officers were contacted about the suspected fraud July 16 by Van Alstine and his wife, Dawn Van Alstine, who handles the company's payroll and other operations.

The company's Facebook page indicates that Competitive Heating has been in business more than 20 years.

The Van Alstines told police that they purchase heating and air-conditioning systems from Monroe Equipment Inc., based in Menomonee Falls in Waukesha County.

Competitive Heating received an email June 28 from someone posing as a Monroe Equipment representative, stating that the supplier no longer would accept debit payments and instead would arrange a different system for electronic payments.

The identity matched the name of an actual Monroe Equipment executive, and officials at Competitive Heating did not notice that the executive's email address was off by just a single letter.

Why you should think about identity theft protectionIdentity theft is probably one of the most costly things that can happen to you, especially if you leave it unresolved for a while. Signing up for a credit monitoring service or identity theft protection insurance can help you stay protected should you fall victim to this. PennyGem's Johana Restrepo has more.

Using a bank routing number that the fraudsters provided, Competitive Heating sent two payments totaling $162,454. A few days later, Monroe Equipment reached out to ask about overdue payments under the previous debit payment system.

Monroe Equipment officials could not be reached for comment.

An official at Community State Bank later told investigators that the bank discovered a "fraudulent bank account" had been created just 15 days earlier to accomplish the theft.

An internet address was traced to Reykjavik, the capital city of Iceland, with a population of about 130,000 people. It is located about 3,000 miles from Wisconsin.

Community State Bank representative Molly Krause told police she tried to seize any remaining funds in the suspect bank account. But police reported, "She has not received a response yet, and does not believe the request was made in time to capture any of the funds."

The Van Alstines told police that they had insurance against some types of fraud totaling $25,000.

Waterford police told the business owners they could contact federal U.S. authorities, but that the police department could not pursue an investigation in Iceland.

"Due to the origin of this case being in a foreign country," police reported, "this agency will not be able to further investigate, as we have no authority in that geographic location and/or arrangement for cooperation due to criminal activity."