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Jacksonville Beach nonprofit In the Pink reportedly scammed out of $13,000

A two-time cancer survivor says her nonprofit was scammed out of more than $13,000.

The goal of In the Pink is to make sure cancer patients have everything they need to go through their journeys with dignity.

The nonprofit has locations in Jacksonville Beach, San Marco and Sarasota.

In the Pink hosts the Jacksonville Dragon Boat Festival each year as its primary fundraiser.

Founder Jeri Millard said the company that provides the boats, Great White North, sent her an email the organization’s balance due was $13,417.

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That’s when Millard said a hacker emailed her from a fake account under the same name, sending her a routing number and bank account number.

Millard said she sent the money, but Great White North never got the funds.

“And they said, ‘That is not our bank. Where did you get that information?’ And I immediately sent them a copy of the email. And they said, ‘Oh, my gosh. That email is not from us,’” said Millard.

The FBI calls it a Business Email Compromise scam, in which a hacker infiltrates a legitimate business account to initiate fraudulent transfers.

Last year, 15,690 people reported this scam to the FBI.

More than 1,000 complaints came from Florida.

“It’s amazing to me how many people in the world are spending so many hours being devious, when we could spend so many hours doing really nice things for people instead,” said Millard.

Millard said she has since changed In the Pink’s procedure for wiring money.

“No transfer like that will take place without me personally speaking to the person on the phone and acknowledging that this is where it’s going to go,” said Millard.

In June, Action News Jax reported that scammers were hacking into local realtors' email accounts to target homebuyers.

An FBI spokesperson told Action News Jax it’s very difficult for victims to get their money back once they’ve wired it, but it’s not impossible.

The agency recovered millions of dollars in fraudulent wire transfers this summer during international Operation Wire Wire.

If you believe you're the victim of a Business Email Compromise scam, you can report it to the FBI here and report it to the Federal Trade Commission here.

If you want to support In the Pink, you can find more information here.