By Tanya Faulkner
Following a devastating incident earlier this year, the Knox community are banding together in support of one of their own.
The Upwey-Tecoma Bowls Club (UTBC) fell victim to a vicious IT scam, costing the club more than $100,000 whilst in the process of carrying out repairs, after experiencing damages to the grounds in the 2022 floods.
Following the incident has been tough on the club, who have been working hard to recoup the funds from the project and rebuild.
However, the wider Knox community has proven that the bowls club is not alone, with several businesses and volunteers getting behind them in any way they can.
The latest of those is the Knox Club in Wantirna, who have recently donated $10,000 to UTBC as a surprise donation.
Knox Club general manager Leigh Mountford said it was a no brainer for them to support the bowling club.
“Being a community based club, we like to put back into the community.
“We also help look after a few footy clubs and other bowls clubs in the area” he said.
It was the vast media attention that brought the issue to members of their club, and sparked the desire to help.
“A couple of our committee members and president saw story on channel 7 at the time.
“With the club being not far away, it pulled on heart strings.
“Our club was sitting in a reasonable position for the financial year, so we wanted to help and make a donation,” he said.
Mr Mountford said Knox Club is helping UTBC with some other sponsorships and ways to fundraisers through the club, with some big things on the horizon.
“We’ll also be keeping in touch to see how they go in future and see if there is anything else we can do to support them,” he said.
UBTC secretary Les Lane said the club has received a lot of support since the incident earlier this year.
“We’re absolutely flabbergasted by the amount of support we have received from the community.
“The general public support on our go fund me page has been fantastic,” he said.
However, it continues to be an uphill battle for the club, who haven’t had smooth sailing.
“We approached Bendigo Bank who basically told us to go away, we don’t want to know you.
“But, we were lucky that our local Community Bank branch in Upwey were happy to support us and made a generous contribution of $10,000 as well, and have said they will continue to support the club if we need it in future,” he said.
Other support the club has had to help raise funds include a fundraiser bowls tournament by the Narre Warren Bowls Club, the Community Bank – Dandenong Branch and Upwey Branch, and a Dandenong Club Bowls raffle, as well as other local bowls clubs in the Hills area and beyond.
In a Facebook post, the Knox Club said they are happy to share the donation.
“We are happy to share that we are donating $10,000 to the Upwey-Tecoma Bowls Club to assist them in their financial recovery and to help them rebuild their facilities so they can continue to provide for their local community!” they said.
The bowls club has a long standing in the community, having been there for 96 years.
The scam came about following the October 2022 floods, when the club were in the process of rebuilding their facilities, and getting their green replaced under insurance in April 2023.
IT forensic specialists at the time said the club had been targeted by a business email compromise scam; where hackers had been tracking the club’s email history.
The original invoice sent by contractors was quickly deleted from the club’s inbox after it was sent and replaced with an identical copy by the scammers, with the only difference in the doctored document being the BSB and account number.
“The email arrived from Berry’s with the invoices on it and they deleted that email from my account. That was taken to Uganda, where they altered the bank details, the bank name and the BSB number and then resent the invoices,” Mr Lane told Star Mail earlier this year.
After investigation it was realised that the funds of $118,000 had been misdirected to the scammers account instead, and were now too late to recover for the club.
Mr Lane said the club has now collated around $37,000 from various donations and fundraisers around the community, with a long road ahead of them.
“In the long-term there may be a massive debt of around $200,000 or more when we need to replace the back green.
“We’ve been saving for it for years, and we have lost all of the money because of the scam and paying the contractor,” he said.
Mr Lane said when it comes to raising such a significant amount of money, every little bit really does help.
“We have had so much support from the wider community.
“Our members are also making little donations where they can to help us recover the funds, and have been supporting us a lot.
“It’s all positive and it’s all happening,” he said.
The upcoming bowls season starts in 2-3 weeks time, with the Upwey-Tecoma club set to field four teams this year, which is one more than last year.
They are looking forward to a successful season over the coming months.
Any locals wanting to get behind the Upwey-Tecoma bowls club can visit gofund.me/af5ec6d6
