An email scam targeting municipal employers has led to the improper diversion of employer contributions from at least two public pension plans outside New Hampshire.

According to recent media reports, a governmental employer in Puerto Rico received an email message that contained instructions to transfer money intended for the retirement system to a different bank account than had been used before. According to law enforcement officials, the email had been disguised to appear as if it had been sent by an employee who handles pension fund transfers. A similar scam was successfully executed against a Texas school district earlier this year.

NHRS is sharing this information to alert participating employers to this specific threat and to encourage them to contact the NHRS Finance Department at (603) 410-3532 or cash_receipts@nhrs.org if they receive requests for payments, member data, or banking or other information that seems unusual or outside the course of normal business processes.

As a reminder, NHRS has partnered with Citizens Bank to provide “NHRS QuickPay,” a secure, online bill pay service to facilitate the submission of employer contributions via ACH (Automated Clearing House) at no cost to participating employers. In order to use the NHRS QuickPay service or find out more information about it, please visit the NHRS website at: https://www.nhrs.org/employers/employer-resources