NEW ULM – Last July, the New Ulm School District was the victim of a check fraud scam in the amount of $216,000.

Though the investigation is ongoing, school district businesses manager Mathew Moline is hopeful they will be able to recoup most of the lost funds.

At the Thursday board meeting, Moline gave a breakdown to the school’s revised 2025 fiscal year budget. In the presentation, Moline included an update on the check fraud incident that occurred last year.

The school district was looking to purchase iPads from the Apple company for $216,000. A check was mailed to the company for the items, but Apple never received the check. The school later received photocopies of issued checks and discovered the check intended for the iPads was altered and cashed by a person not on the school’s accounting system.

The check was deposited at a bank in Raleigh, North Carolina. The investigation into the check fraud is being investigated by Raleigh Police and U.S. Bank.

While the investigation continues, the school is district is looking to recoup the loss through insurance. Moline said the school has commercial coverage for check fraud in the amount of $10,000. However, there is a coverage option through cyber insurance that covers up to $250,000 with a $10,000 retainer.

Moline said he is hopeful that through these two options, the school can get back at least $200,000 of the stolen funds. However, it is not clear when the school will receive the insurance payment. The insurance companies are holding off payment as the criminal investigation moves forward. A claim was also issued with the U.S. Postal service to determine how the check was intercepted. The district will likely need to wait until the investigations are complete before receiving any reimbursement.

Moline said following this incident, the school put new security systems in place to prevent this from happening again.

“This should not happen again,” Moline said. “But when you close one hole for criminals, they sometimes find another.”