A “Letter to the Editor” was published in a recent edition of the Spokesman Review (below) where a citizen was victim of a scam. The SFD and SPD have received complaints in the past from others reporting similar occurrences where criminals will identify themselves as “Spokane Fire Department” and solicit donations from our citizens. In extreme cases, the solicitors even insinuated that the SFD may not respond to an emergency if a donation isn’t received.
As you might expect, the SFD does not (and will not) solicit funds for the Spokane Fire Department by telephone, door-to-door or other means. We are pursuing these imposter solicitors as criminals and are doing everything in our means to stop the activity.
In the interim, if citizens have an experience with these criminals, please gather as much information as you can (telephone, location to send the money, etc…) and contact the Fire Department’s Special Investigation Unit at 625-7052. Please note that it is VERY important that you do not send money, give any of your identification information or any credit card numbers. These people are truly predators and any information will most likely be exploited for criminal use.
Again, please accept our sincere apologies if you have had to deal with this situation.
Article below...
http://www.spokesman.com/letters/2009/jul/30/phoning-firefighters/
Letters /
"Hot about solicitation"
I must begin by saying that I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for the men and women of the Spokane Fire Department. On a daily basis, they serve our community with character and professionalism.With that in mind, I am livid at the prospect that someone is trying to bilk the public by using the name of our firefighters to line their pockets. Recently, we received our fifth telephone call from someone asking for our support for “our firefighters.” When asked for which firefighters this support was intended, the caller just slipped on to the next line of his pitch. With each call we declined. These calls have the smack of so many other “charities” that solicit money and retain as much as eighty percent for administrative costs. The bottom line is that the worthy cause gets very little of the amount donated.With yesterday’s call, when we declined our support, the caller responded with, “I just hope the fire department can respond when you call them,”The Spokane Fire Department should consider this kind of representation nothing less than a slander against their commitment to our community. The SFD protects all homes within their jurisdiction. To imply that service is contingent upon a donation is outrageous. Do not support these “dialing for dollars” scammers. Your tax dollars support the SFD.
John Buckmaster
No comments:
Post a Comment