Elizabeth Shelton, the executive director of United Way of Southeast Missouri, was working from home on a Friday in late May when a nasty ghost appeared. The apparition arrived as a fake Facebook profile named Rachel Steenberg. Rachel’s post ridiculed George Floyd with a disgusting racist meme.

Rachel, the ghost, claimed to work for Elizabeth at the United Way.

Rachel wasn’t real. But the threat to United Way was very real.

“We have a small team of just six, so we know everyone,”...