County staff stop attempted cashing of forged check; county closes compromised account

County staff informed the Keith County Board of Commissioners that someone attempted to cash a forged check drawn on the county's vendor account at a check‑cashing business in Houston, Texas. The business called the county to verify the check and, after determining it was suspicious, the bank closed the account.

"Evidently, somebody hacked the clerk's vendor account, wrote a check to a check cashing place in Houston, Texas," a staff member said, describing how the business called to verify the check and spared the county a loss. The staff member said the check included the bank routing and checking account numbers and that the bank acted quickly to close the account.

County staff said they have opened online access to a replacement account and will require appropriate signatures to authorize disbursements. The clerk's office also indicated it will provide relevant documentation to investigators and will consider referring the matter to state patrol if any county funds were lost.

Commissioners discussed internal controls and authentication methods; staff and supervisors described multi‑factor authentication practices and cautioned that certain state systems require personal identity verification that can complicate purely organizational logins. The board asked staff to provide copies of transaction records and to follow up if financial losses are identified.

What happens next: staff will gather documentation for investigators, confirm the status of affected claims, and complete bank‑account signatory updates so county bills can be paid on schedule. The board asked staff to monitor account activity closely and to report back if funds were missing.