MILWAUKEE, Wis. — A local business owner reached out to TMJ4 News after receiving an email from someone impersonating a Milwaukee Public Market employee.
"Just knowing all the local support and reporting that you all do, I thought it would be a great avenue to help get the word there," Matthew Schlimme said.
Schlimme's the business development manager of Nessalla Kombucha, which brews in Madison, but distributes in Milwaukee.
Spurring, shopping and supporting local business is a lifestyle for him.
"I'm somebody that I love local, and so hearing that there was the potential for a significant amount of businesses to be negatively impacted by that, it was something where I just wanted to make sure that the word was getting out there," Schlimme explained.
Two weeks ago, Schlimme received an email from a 'Shane Myers' who claimed to work for the Milwaukee Public Market.
The email invites business owners to an alleged event on October 26th and 27th at the renowned public market.
"Immediately had some red flags because our product is already being sold in the Milwaukee Public Market," Schlimme added.
Schlimme said he responded anyway, wanting to know more.
"He was charging $75.00 for a 10x10 booth space, which is very low, which was kind of another red flag," Schlimme said.
Another red flag Schlimme pointed out was that Myers wanted to be paid through PayPal.
"I had started to try and look him up, went to the Milwaukee Public Market's website where they have their employees listed. I didn't see him listed there, was looking at LinkedIn," Schlimme said.
Schlimme called the public market and when he talked to someone, he said they knew exactly what he was referring to.
"It took us entirely off guard. We received a couple of phone calls right away, and we had people forwarding us the email," Paige Hammond said.
Hammond's the marketing and communications coordinator for the Milwaukee Public Market.
"It's terrible. Obviously, we don't know a Shane. There is not a Shane that works at the Milwaukee Public Market. The fact that somebody would prey on small businesses or anyone at all and pretend it's coming from the Milwaukee Public Market is just horrible," she continued.
"Have you guys been able to get a hold of this person, do you guys know who this person is at all," reporter Jenna Rae asked Hammond.
"No, unfortunately not. We have no way to know. We did contact local authorities. They said nothing can be done unless somebody is actually paying this individual money. We contacted Paypal," Hammond explained.
TMJ4 tried calling Myers, but couldn't even get connected to a voicemail. We texted and emailed him, but never heard back.
"If anyone received the email, they can report it as phishing. They can report it directly to PayPal as well. And just sharing the word with small businesses," Hammond said.
"I felt like my best avenue to try to help out was contacting TMJ4," Schlimme said.
If you've gotten an email from Shane Myers, he is not a public market employee. Please report the email to local law enforcement and PayPal.
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