STORRS, Conn. – A Georgia woman has been arraigned on charges she stole more than $773,000 from the University of Connecticut by hacking into its vendor-payment system.
Police say 38-year-old Muthini Nzuki (moo-THEE'-nee ZU'-kee), of Kennesaw, diverted 32 payments meant for computer vendor Dell into her personal accounts last spring.
Nzuki was arrested in August. She was extradited to Connecticut, and she appeared in court Friday on larceny and computer crime charges.
Her attorney, John O'Brien, says Nzuki was duped into participating in the scheme.
She is being on $500,000 bond and is due back in court on Dec. 1.
A UConn spokeswoman says the school's billing vendor and Dell will work to recover the lost funds.
Police say the billing system has no way to verify changes made to a vendor's profile.