Help Upwey bowls club recover from stolen funds

Upwey Tecoma bowls club is 96 years old this year, catering for over 100 members ranging from school-age boys and girls to men and women over 80. We rely solely on volunteers to operate our not-for-profit sports Club and are an integral club within the local community.

Our club fell victim to an elaborate scam last month when paying for a replacement green we had lost due to floods in November 2022. Located in The Dandenong Ranges, Vic. our club did not escape the floods when a nearby creek broke its banks, consequently flooding and lifting our main green. This event alone significantly impacted the club’s revenue and events last summer. The green was covered by insurance and replaced after the completion of the busy season in April 2023.

However, we were then the victim of an Email Compromise scam. The scam works with a hacker infiltrating an email account, searching out an invoice then masquerading as the legitimate business from which the original invoice came.

The invoice that the club paid for the new greens, unbeknown to us, was sent from a hacker who had altered the bank account details.

A few weeks later the contractor chased us up looking for the payment. After investigation we eventually came to the realisation, the funds of $118,000 had been misdirected and were now too late to recover.

The club has since worked with the bank and the contractor, reported the scam to the appropriate bodies, warned the wider Bowls community and invested in legal advice, but our money has gone.

We are seeking support from the wider community to help us raise funds so that we can continue to provide a facility widely used by the local community. Please help our small sporting club get back on its feet and enable us the chance to reach our centenary year.