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Low-level MacEwan University staffers were tricked into transferring $11.8 million into scammers’ bank accounts in what one expert said is among the largest publicly disclosed phishing scams.

The majority of the money, $11.4 million, has been traced to bank accounts in Montreal and Hong Kong.

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“We are fairly confident that we will be able to recover those funds, the $11.4 million,” MacEwan spokesman David Beharry said Thursday. “It’s a question of how long will it take for the university to retrieve that money.”

He said $6.3 million has been seized from the account in Montreal, and actions are underway to freeze the two accounts in Hong Kong.

The $11.8 million loss represents about one-10th of what MacEwan receives as an annual operating grant from the government of Alberta. In the 2015-16 financial year, the university received $118 million from the province out of its $237.1-million budget.