PASCO COUNTY, Fla — The Trinity Mustangs have a new season starting very soon.
“It takes a lot of conditioning. It’s hard,” said player Brooks Gigantelli.
Player Matthew Glennon said, “I’ve been playing for seven years. Football is my passion."
But while the kids practice, Mustangs director Daniel Gigantelli is dealing with a crisis.
“I’m just sad for them. It’s a shame people want to go over youth football organizations to steal money from,” said Gigantelli.
The Mustangs, a youth football organization in West Pasco County, say they were victimized by a hacker who tricked them with a text alerting them about a fraud.
They say they responded to what appeared to be a legitimate Bank of America phone number that turned out to be cloned. When they called, they gave a verification code that allowed the hackers to get into their account and steal $9,000.
“Your first thought is about all these kids out there and that means we still have a whole other jersey order to put in and what am I going to do? How am I going to get these kids their jerseys? How are we going to pay for field rentals,” said Gigantelli.
While they wait to see what Bank Of America’s fraud investigation turns up, they’ve started a Go Fund Me page that you can access by clicking here.
They say local businesses have already stepped up with donations and other football organizations have offered to loan them the money they need to keep going.
Bank of America’s website has a long list of potential scams to look for.
It says scammers may call claiming to be from the fraud department, spoofing legitimate numbers. It warns customers to always be cautious about granting account access to anyone or downloading unfamiliar apps to fix issues.
The bank says there is often little they can do to help you get your money back if you authorize a transfer, even when it’s a fraud.
“It’s none of these kids' fault. So, we quickly as adults need to find a way to make this right,” said Gigantelli.
