4 Years Ago $161 Vanished in an Email Scam, Policy Have Now Tracked a Suspect in Oregon
A New York employee thought they were doing exactly what they were supposed to do when an email instructed them to start sending business payments to a new bank account. Three transfers and more than $161,000 later, police say the money had actually been directed to an unauthorized recipient.
According to the Nassau County Police Department, the grand larceny occurred in Westbury between October 12 and November 30, 2022. An employee received an email advising that all online payment transfers for the business should now be submitted to a new Bank of America account.
The employee followed the instructions and made three payments totaling $161,938.83 over the next several weeks. Nothing apparently seemed amiss until January 2023, when a representative from the business that was supposed to receive the money reached out about its outstanding bills.
That was when the employee realized the company’s email server had been compromised and the payments had been going somewhere they were never supposed to go. The employee contacted police, beginning an investigation that would take authorities more than three years to reach an arrest.
$161K Disappears After One Change in Payment Instructions
The Nassau County Police Department’s Electronic Squad Fraud and Forgery Section investigated the case alongside the Nassau County District Attorney’s Major Financial Frauds Bureau. Police eventually identified 51-year-old Dwayne Stewart of Oregon as the defendant in the case.
After what police described as an extensive investigation, the Nassau County Fugitive Squad located Stewart in Oregon and arrested him without incident. He was subsequently extradited across the country and returned to Nassau County to face the charge against him.
Stewart has been charged with second-degree grand larceny and was arraigned at Nassau County Court on September 4, 2026. The police department did not provide additional details about how investigators connected Stewart to the compromised email account or the money transfers.
Police Warn Businesses To Watch for Fraud
The case highlights how a seemingly routine change to payment instructions can become an expensive problem before anyone realizes something is wrong. In this instance, police say the employee did not discover the payments had been misdirected until the intended recipient contacted the company months later about bills it still considered unpaid.
Nassau County Police used the announcement of Stewart’s arrest to encourage residents to remain alert for scams and fraud. The department also urged people to remind vulnerable family members, friends, and neighbors about the potential for fraudulent schemes.
Anyone who believes they may have been a victim of fraud can contact the Nassau County Fraud and Forgery Section, according to the department. Police said callers can remain anonymous while providing information or reporting a suspected scam.
