Boy scouts need help after bank fraud

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, Long Island (WABC) -- A troop of Boy Scouts on Long Island became the victims of a scammer who stole nearly $10,000 from their checking account.

Troop 517 in Rockville Centre works hard to raise money for their trips. It took almost a year to save up nearly $10,000, but only a few seconds for someone to steal it out of the scout account at Astoria Bank.

The troop leaders were shocked to see their balance wiped out by a wire transfer to another account at another bank. They learned someone scammed the scout account number and used it to pay off a credit card in Europe.

The second shocker, a little-known rule; business and charity account holders have just 1 business/banking day to report fraud to their bank. Since the scouts didn't report it for weeks, their claim was denied.

The scoutmasters appealed to the bank but got nowhere even the Boy Scout sponsor was losing faith.

"So many people put up roadblocks and I thought it was a lost cause," Pastor David Grainson said.

7 on your Side was prepared for the challenge, we asked Astoria to take a second look and, hopefully, reconsider.

Scoutmaster, Barry Goldman gave the good news, "Today, as of today all of our money has been restored."

Astoria said the generous gesture was a courtesy to the local Boy Scouts, even though the bank tried but couldn't recover their stolen funds.

And they surprised Nina Pineda by making her an honorary junior scoutmaster!

Now the scouts have their funds to make their scheduled scout trip to Williamsburg after all.