Hockey association hoping to recover $100K lost in phishing scam

Almost $100,000 stolen in an email scam has the McKnight Hockey Association working with Calgary police to get their lost funds back.

Back in January, the hockey association’s treasurer received a fraudulent email request believed to be an investment transaction approved by the board, according to a statement released by McKnight Hockey. Believing the correspondence was between herself and the hockey association’s president and vice-president, the funds were released through a wire transfer.

The association was defrauded of close to $98,000. With recent financial reviews indicating the volunteer organization would have been up $50,000 this year, if the money isn’t recovered, McKnight Hockey faces a $48,000 loss.

“The McKnight organization was defrauded of some money. The situation was done through Internet and through some technology that, I’ll be honest, I really don’t understand,” said Kevin Kobelka, executive director of Hockey Calgary, in an interview with Sportsnet 960.

“It’s sad to see, in this day and age, that people are targeting volunteer organizations and sports organizations that have a lot of dedicated people stepping up to do their very best,” he said.

An investigation by the Calgary police and RBC is now underway, Kobelka said.

McKnight Hockey hopes to retrieve the funds by either catching the criminals, or through insurance.

Known as “phishing” or “spoofing,” this type of fraud sends the recipient emails that appear to be from a boss or employer. Kobelka said several other local hockey associations were also targeted.

“The criminals out there are very clever, and McKnight unfortunately made a mistake,” Kobelka said.

“This is more of a warning to everybody — be careful, make sure your protocols are proper so these things won’t happen to you.”