The city’s chief financial officer told the council that city staff were briefed on a possible $ 558,000 payment issue Monday in a memo sent Thursday afternoon. As soon as the staff confirmed the fraudulent transaction, the note states that they referred to the city financial institution, the Ottawa police and the auditor general. The city is working with the police and the financial institution to recover the money. Ottawa police told the CBC they did not confirm or deny any active investigations into the brand. The staff of the municipality is also working on a “comprehensive” internal investigation. They confirmed that no personal information was released from the city of Ottawa. This is not the first time the city has lost a large amount of money to fraudsters. In 2019, the city lost about $ 130,000 when the cashier fell into an email scam. The city has said it will not comment further as an active police investigation.