The student organizers of a sexual-assault awareness T-shirt fundraiser at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, along with the screen printing shop they partnered with, were defrauded of the $10,960 the campaign raised, the Lincoln Star-Journal reports.
The “kNOw MORE” campaign had raised the money after an alleged sexual assault at a university frat house on the first day of the fall semester, the article explains. The organizers and 402ink, a screen shop in Lincoln, NE, planned to send the money to Voices of Hope, a nonprofit organization that supports victims of sexual assault.
However, as the organizers prepared to send the money to Voices of Hope, they received an email from a third party claiming to be a member of the nonprofit group. Under the impression the third party was affiliated with Voices of Hope, the organizers asked 402ink to wire the funds to an account provided by the fraudster.
“This is obviously a sad and frustrating situation,” Dan Okelberry, the owner of 402ink, told the paper. “There were many people including everyone at my company and the kNOw MORE organization that were trying to do something good, and scammers were able to take advantage of that.”
A police investigation is ongoing.
Read more at the Lincoln Star-Journal.