The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and New York State Police are investigating an attempt last month to steal about $3.8 million from the Duanesburg Central School District in Schenectady County, New York.



Online thieves made a series of unauthorized funds transfers from the school district's NBT Bank account to an overseas bank between December 18 and 22, 2009.



The third transfer during this period was flagged as abnormal activity by the bank, which began blocking pending transactions after the school district confirmed the transfers had not been authorized.



Working with foreign banks, NBT Bank recovered about $2.5 million out of $3 million stolen during the four day period, but two previous unauthorized transactions were discovered.



"Thanks to NBT Bank's aggressive pursuit of the stolen funds, we are fortunate that the vast majority of the money has been recovered," wrote Superintendent Christine Crowley in a letter on Monday to district parents and community members. "However, $497,200 of Duanesburg taxpayers' money is still missing, and we are committed to doing everything in our power to recover the remaining funds."