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Bredesen Campaign Tells FBI It Was Targeted By Cyberthieves

Former Tenn. Gov. Phil Bredesen's campaign says it's concerned about how much the would-be thieves knew about its plans.
TN Photo Services
Former Tenn. Gov. Phil Bredesen's campaign says it's concerned about how much the would-be thieves knew about its plans.

The Senate campaign for Phil Bredesen says it's been targeted in a sophisticated attempt to steal its funds.

In a letter sent Thursday to the FBI, an attorney for the former Tennessee governor says unknown parties tried to trick the campaign into wiring money to a foreign bank account by masquerading in email messages as the Bredesen campaign's media buyer.

Bredesen's attorney says no money was actually transferred, but the campaign is concerned the imposters knew so much about their media plans. The sender posed as a principal at the media buyer's firm and knew that they were on the verge of buying TV air time for the campaign. The would-be cyberthieves even knew what days the ads were supposed to air.

The emails urged the Bredesen campaign to wire money to a foreign bank account so the buy could go forward. But an alert campaign aide noticed discrepancies in the sender's email addresses, so the campaign hired a cyber-security firm, which traced the addresses to an Arizona-based registrar.

The campaign is conducting an internal review and says they're ready to work with investigators.

A spokeswoman declined to comment further.

Bredesen is considered the leading Democratic contender in the race to succeed retiring Sen. Bob Corker, a Republican. His campaign has drawn national attention, as Democrats seek to recapture Congress.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn is the top GOP candidate in the race.

Copyright 2018 WPLN News

Chas joined WPLN in 2015 after eight years with The Tennessean, including more than five years as the newspaper's statehouse reporter.Chas has also covered communities, politics and business in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C. Chas grew up in South Carolina and attended Columbia University in New York, where he studied economics and journalism. Outside of work, he's a dedicated distance runner, having completed a dozen marathons