GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) - At first, it seemed like any other email from a donor interested in helping to support Literacy Green Bay, a nonprofit that currently serves 450 students in the adult education space. Executive director Eric Sponholtz and his colleague were pleased to get the support, but when they looked more at the message written to them, they noticed grammatical errors. ‘Operation Fill The Cruiser’ delivers over 10 tons of donations to Hurricane Helene victims, six semis en route from Wisconsin “One letter was missing from a word or one letter was missing from a sentence, if you’re reading it really fast you can kind of gloss over that," Sponholtz said. Still, he and his colleague were looking forward to receiving the pledged $2,000 if this was a well-meaning, legitimate donor. They continued their correspondence until a check bearing $4,000 arrived, and it was then that Sponholtz knew something was wrong. “They wanted to donate a certain amount, and then when we got the check it was a little more than they said they were going to send," Sponholtz said. "Even the check itself looked a little sketchy, and some of the communication we had back and forth with this person made us feel a little uneasy." The communication with the would-be donor went from odd to downright alarming. “This person wanted deposit confirmation," Sponholtz said. "Not necessarily confirmation that we received the check, but confirmation that we deposited the money so that they could come back and ask us for the overage of what they initially sent.” This is a case of a scam via fake check, albeit on a more complicated level, according to Better Business Bureau Wisconsin regional director Tiffany Schultz. “They ask them to give the overage back to them, perhaps in the form of a gift card or a wire transfer. What The nonprofit does not know is that the check is fake, the check is going to bounce, and not only are they out the amount of the check that bounced, but they are out the amount of money that was sent back to the scammer," Schultz said. "The check is fake, and the check is used as a lure to get the nonprofit to send money, that is real, back to the scammer.” Fed up with the antics and realizing the catch, Sponholtz had the bank investigate the check for fraud, and it turned out to be a fake. That was the end of the line for the perpetrator, who signed the email Jeffrey Hanes. A week earlier, that was the name that arrived in the inbox of Kathryne Auerback. Auerback is the CEO of Movin' Out Inc., a Madison-based nonprofit that helps people with permanent disabilities, and their families, to find and maintain housing of their choice. "This person explained they were interested in making a donation, and asked some unusual questions about the donation process," Auerback said. "Typically, it's a straightforward process that shouldn't have too many questions." Figuring there was a good chance this was not a legitimate donor, but still appreciative in the off-chance this was, Auerback politely emailed back and answered the person's questions. "He responded in a flattering but in a generic way, it had nothing to do with our mission," Auerback said. After several more emails, the person said they would send a check for $2,000. And, like in the case of Literacy Green Bay, the check arrived bearing $4,000 written on it. Auerback realized that there was a good chance the check was not authentic, so she turned it in to the bank and contacted the FTC and FBI. She has not heard back from either agency. “They're intentionally targeting organizations that they think would be vulnerable because the organizations would welcome the assistance,” she said. "This could be devastating to a nonprofit." Angered, Auerback did some sleuthing herself and found that the Jeffrey Hanes the person was posing as lived in California and the business they were posing as an employee of was based in Florida. Auerback informed both of the situation in which their identities were being used. The perpetrator is not only going after Wisconsin nonprofits; Sponholtz said he is aware of a nonprofit out of state that has been targeted. “I had heard of it from a couple of other nonprofits, one in the state and another outside of the state," Sponholtz said. Besides grammatical errors, Schultz says there are a couple of other red flags that any entity should keep in mind when accepting checks. “The biggest red flag is that somebody had asked for the overage money to be sent back to them," she said. "In other cases, it may be a mailing address, I believe this one had it, where the check was mailed from a completely different place than where the check was cut from.” Manitowoc man arrested for cocaine distribution as result of two-month joint investigation Sponholtz wants to spread the word to as many nonprofits as possible so that they are prepared to be vigilant and secure should they come across a scammer in any situation. “We’re all nonprofits, we’re all here to serve our missions, and to be able to go after a nonprofit is just unconscionable to me. I can’t imagine that nonprofit organizations small or large should have to deal with something like this," he said. "To have some of these types of things detract or distract from what you’re doing on a day-to-day basis is really disheartening.”