East Point city manager fired amid phishing scam controversy

EAST POINT, Ga. - East Point has fired its city manager months after the city lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in an email phishing scam.

The city announced its decision to let Deron King go earlier this week.

While East Point officials did not provide an exact reason for the move, a statement from City Councilmember and Mayor pro tem Karen Rene said the decision "was not taken lightly."

"The phishing scam that cost our city over $700 thousand was a serious breach of trust. It is important to remember that the City Council has a fiduciary responsibility to protect the taxpayers’ money. We cannot and will not tolerate any action that puts our city’s financial security at risk," Rene said.

In July, an audit report was presented to the council that showed the city had lost $1,219,287 in an email scam in 2021. 

According to the report, scammers hacked city employees’ email accounts through a phishing email. 

The hackers then sent four fake invoices from city email addresses asking for the funds to be wired to a fake company. 

The city was able to recover about $434,197 from the fourth wire transfer when they finally caught on to what was happening. 

But they still lost $785,090 from their general fund. 

Dozens of taxpayers pushed for the city to fire King after he failed to inform the City Council or the public about the loss.

King said staff didn’t tell the council because it was under investigation by the FBI and they weren't sure how much they could share.

Former East Point City Manager Deron King

Rene said the city hopes to focus "on healing and rebuilding trust."

"We are committed to working with the community to ensure that something like this never happens again," she said. We are also committed to finding a new City Manager who will lead our city with integrity and transparency."

Jeffrey Reeves will serve as interim city manager.