E-mail Scam Hits Local Civic

Scams are getting more personal and now local civic associations are being targeted. Paul King, president of the Belle Harbor Property Owners Association, recently let us know about a scam being sent to the civic’s members.

On Tuesday, King sent an e-mail to members and The Rockaway Times saying, “One of my Association’s vice presidents received the email below earlier today asking for urgent help to get a BHPOA bill paid immediately. The email was signed by me but as you can tell from the email address, it did not come from me.

I suspect this is a scam that is being sent to civic organizations and not-for-profits everywhere, hoping for a quick score.

A few years ago, senior citizens in our neighborhood were getting messages or calls from their ‘grandchildren’  who were in trouble and needed money right away. This seems like a fresh take on an old scam.

Please beware.”

The e-mail in question, signed by Paul King but sent to civic members from e-mail address, 1tp_9484hrcwir@dingtalk.com, said, “Are you available? Our treasurer is currently unavailable, and I am out of the office with limited phone connectivity. Could you assist with an urgent operating expense that needs to be paid immediately? Thank you in advance for your help. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Thanks,
Paul King.”

King sent out an e-mail notifying the RT and members of the scam after a second member of the BHPOA’s leadership team received the same scam message.

Let this be a reminder to always verify where an e-mail is coming from when a request for money is made.