October 26, 2011 | Read Time: 1 minute
When Debra K. Raymer, a health-care charity leader, received a letter delivered by an overnight courier, she was delighted to find a $1,950 check.
Ms. Raymer is president of HealthCare PSI, a Springfield, Mo., group that works to provide asthma-screening programs in public schools, and the donation was from Purvin & Gertz, an international energy-consulting company in Houston. The company had never previously supported the charity, but since HealthCare PSI has corporate supporters in Texas, Ms. Raymer wasn’t suspicious. That is, until she called the company to say thanks.
When she reached Purvin & Gertz’s assistant controller, Dana Burchfield, Ms. Raymer learned the donation was fake. Someone has hacked into the company’s bank account, Ms. Burchfield told The Chronicle. Since October 4, dozens of checks, ranging from $1,900 to $7,200, have been mailed via overnight courier to individuals and organizations in at least two dozen states. The checks are still coming.
Ms. Burchfield says that Purvin & Gertz has not lost any money because the bank knows when the company has not authorized a payment. But, she says, she continues to get multiple calls a day about unauthorized checks.
Meanwhile, Ms. Raymer is trying to figure out who sent her charity the check. She also wants to warn other charities about the fake donations. She speculates that the sender could be a disgruntled employee of the energy company or an environmental activist who disapproves of the company.
“Someone has gone to a lot of trouble,” she says. “I don’t want to see other charities get scammed.”
