‘Absolutely preventable;’ New Pender County manager takes over after $650K scam
PENDER COUNTY, NC (WWAY-TV) – A new Pender County manager has taken over in the wake of a vendor fraud scheme that resulted in the loss of more than $650,000 in public funds.
“This was absolutely preventable,” said Colby Sawyer.
As of December 1, 2025, Sawyer has been the county’s new manager and now he is picking up the pieces after a major scam the county fell victim to late last year.
“If criminals would put 10% of the processing power into doing good that they do into causing crime the world would be a much better place,” Sawyer said.
The county lost $650,000 of public funds when scammers acted as the Lower Cape Fear Water and Sewer Authority and requested a change to banking details via email.
Sawyer said staff did not follow procedure when the fraud began in September.
“We had a internal control in place, a internal control was not followed and as a result that bad actor was able to change the banking information for one our regular vendors,” said Sawyer.
It wasn’t until December that the issue was raised when a vendor from the LCFWSA told officials that multiple invoice payments had not been received. Sawyer said the funds were not considered taxpayer dollars but came from Pender County water and sewer customers.
“I can say that we are exhausting every effort to attempt to retrieve and recall those funds, we’re working with that state and federal law enforcement and the state auditor’s office in that regard,” said Sawyer.
Sawyer said the county is still awaiting the results from the FBI and SBI investigation, he said before the state auditor can begin its review, they are still at the hands of the criminal investigation.
“Any document requests or interviews, anything like that our staff have been very forthcoming with those items so the timeline is still needing to be locked down,” said Sawyer.
When asked whether the employee or employees involved have been or will be disciplined, Sawyer’s response is:
“So that is a personal matter and the investigation has not been fully completed but that would be a personal matter.”
One day after the scam was discovered, Swayer said the county implemented a new system to prevent future fraud. What was once a one-point of failure approval system is now a three-point of failure approval system. Meaning any change to vendor information requires three levels of review including Sawyer’s and the county’s finance directors.
“Were certainly being more suspicious of every email we receive, really trying to focus on the prevention side and we’ve also done some additional training and we will continue to do some additional training,” Sawyer said.
Sawyer said no further information will be available about the fraud scheme until the criminal investigation is completed and the state auditor begins its review.
