GAWLER Bowling Club is urging businesses in Gawler to ignore sponsorship requests from companies claiming to work on behalf of the club, alleging some of its existing sponsors have been hit by
scammers.

Club secretary Bob Gillies told The Bunyip some of the deals pitched to local companies by the interstate business included putting the sponsor’s name and likeness on the club’s scorecards.

He said, unfortunately, some businesses are now out of pocket up to $380 after handing over funds to the fraudsters.

Mr Gillies said the club only contacts businesses about sponsorship through its co-ordinator Phil Marsden, and that any other party claiming to be doing similar was not affiliated with the club.

“We feel bad that our name has been used in this; we in no way feel guilty, but we feel bad we’ve been used against our sponsors,” he said.

The club was alerted to the scam when it received a delivery of scorecards bearing its sponsors’ names, which it had never ordered.

Further investigation by the club discovered the address that had sent the cards was the same as the address for the business which extracted the payments from the sponsors.

Mr Gillies said he then contacted the business and spoke to a person who hung up on him when he asked why his club received the cards.

The club was expecting scorecards not displaying any sponsorship to be sent from Bowls SA, but when it contacted the governing body it was told the cards had not been sent by it.

A Bowls SA spokesperson confirmed this to The Bunyip and advised any clubs receiving packages from entities that aren’t Bowls SA not open them.

A police spokesperson said the incident did not constitute a fraud offence, because the sponsors were issued with legitimate invoices for the scorecards.

Mr Gillies said he was concerned the club may now lose sponsorship money as a result of the incident, as local businesses may struggle to afford to contribute additional funding.

“Everyone single penny we get is allocated to something, like the trophies at the end of the season, or it goes to tournaments,” he said.

“It would mean we’d have to pull our budget in and we’d have to lessen some of the events and projects we work on.

“It would affect us greatly, we’d have to think about reviewing our subs because it’s a lot of money.”

The business that allegedly called the sponsors was contacted by The Bunyip for comment, but did not respond to calls throughout Monday and Tuesday.