Funds Being Restored After Team Luke Account Hacked

If you've been following the stories from St. Louis about accounts of those who shop at Schnuck's stores in the St. Louis area being hacked, you might've thought it wouldn't impact anybody in our area.

Unfortunately, that's not the case.  Worse, it involved an account dear to the hearts of many in this area.

The Team Luke account was established to assist the family of Luke Johnson, the St. Anthony Grade School student who is battling leukemia.  The Team Luke bank account was hacked after the hacker got account information from when Luke's mom, Jami, shopped at Schnuck's while in St. Louis with Luke during his treatments.  A Facebook post on the Effingham Fire Department site indicated that almost $5,000 was taken from the account.

Rick Johnson, Luke's dad, said he checks his accounts daily and when he checked the Team Luke account, he knew something was wrong.  He contacted St. Louis police Wednesday and it was learned that the account had been hacked on 17 occasions, all by someone in Georgia.

There is good news, though; all of the money should be replaced in the account by the end of the week.  Rick Johnson said today that Dennis Rubin of Prairie National Bank, where the account was established, said the bank will make good the money taken from the account, which totals close to $5,000.

Even better news is that Luke is expected to return home to Effingham by month's end after completing his treatments.  Rick Johnson said Luke is due home on April 22 and is doing well.

Rick added that the Team Luke account will remain open, but not for their use; he said it will be there and "if some other little kid needs it, here you go."  He also added that if people are looking for ways to continue helping Luke and the family, "help us get back to normal; cheer Luke on when he plays ball for the Park District this summer, smile and say Hello; help us get back to normal."