A Surry County church was scammed out of nearly $800,000 in November in what a church leader described as a “tragic cybercrime.”
The church is building a new sanctuary.
The Rev. Johnny Blevins, the senior pastor of Elkin Valley Baptist Church in Elkin, wrote on the church’s GoFundMe page that a thief created a replica of its contractor’s invoice and sent it to the church.
The church paid the fake invoice, resulting in $793,848 being wired to the scammer’s bank account, Blevins told WGHP/Fox8, the Journal’s newsgathering partner.
The FBI is investigating the theft, Blevins wrote. However, the church hasn’t recovered any of the money.
Shelley Lynch, a FBI spokeswoman in Charlotte, on Friday called the scam a “business email compromise.”
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In that kind of scam, criminals send an email that appears to be from known source making legitimate request, according to the FBI.
“The FBI is working to try and help recover the funds through (its) recovery assets team,” Lynch said.
The church is moving forward with its construction project, Blevins said.
With construction underway and half of the raised money now gone, “we’ve had to take out a costly loan for the construction to continue,” Blevins wrote.
The church’s GoFundMe has a goal of $793,848. So far, the church has raised $3,895.
“Our church prayerfully saved toward a new worship center for over 10 years,” Blevins wrote.
Six years ago, the church outgrew its sanctuary and now meets in its gymnasium, requiring multiple Sunday services to accommodate all of its worshippers, Blevins said.
For two months each year, church members meet in the old sanctuary to make room in the gym for the children who participate in church’s Veritas basketball outreach program, Blevins said.
“Proverbs 24:10 teaches us, ‘If you falter in a time of trouble, how small is your strength,’” Blevins said. “So while the loss is great and the task large, through the grace of God and the kindness of so many, we will overcome and emerge stronger.”
