A Sunshine Coast council says it was defrauded of almost $2 million by international crime gangs over the Christmas period last year, but was told by police not to make the incident public.

Noosa Council CEO Larry Sengstock said sophisticated, strategic and targeted tactics were used to commit the crime.

“The criminals used social engineering AI techniques, and we will not go into specifics to avoid revealing the tactics of the criminals, and because of our legal obligation to protect Council staff,” Sengstock said.

He said the fraud was not related to cybersecurity, and no data was stolen. The incident was reported to the Queensland Audit Office and the state government, Sengstock said.

The alleged perpetrators of the fraud were already under investigation by the Australian Federal Police and Interpol, and the council was able to recoup some of the money, according to Sengstock.

“Despite having processes and procedures to mitigate this type of event, unfortunately, in this instance they were not effective enough, as this crime was committed by highly organised, professional criminals who found a way through our processes.”