Renfroe/DHS Booster Chair Alerts Community to Fundraising Fraud Attempts
Decatur Metro | August 14, 2012Terry Conway, the current Chair of the Renfroe Middle School/Decatur High School Bulldog Booster Club, writes in…
One of our fundraisers is Ad Sales. We contact local merchants/businesses/restaurants and sell ads in our football programs and the digital scoreboard. The DBB is the ONLY fundraising group for the RMS/DHS athletic department. The DBB will contact merchants in person or will be calling from a local area code. When contacting one of Decatur’s restaurant owners, one of our board members was shocked to learn that the owner had been contacted by someone else claiming to be raising money for the school athletics. Here is the email our fundraiser sent to me:
I sent XXXXX the ad sheet and they called me today and said someone else had asked for them to buy an ad, but it was from a 866 number. They did not buy one thank goodness. I called the number and they are a FRAUD. I acted like I was interested to get the scoop. They say they are selling poster ads for the basketball team. Varsity posters.com is their website. She said the school gets nothing and I asked her why she is representing herself as selling ads for the booster club. She got very mad and I was furious. The number [starts with] 866-510-**** and her name is Noel. Please spread the word.
I have also heard of calendars being solicited and the “sellers” using names of DHS faculty to try to authenticate who they are.
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Why do I still get surprised by the new lows that people will stoop to? I know this is bad, but it has gotten to the point where I assume the teenagers/young adults approaching me in the parking lot selling candy bars aren’t fundraising for their schools or sports team.
Agree. That scam has been going on for quite some time — the only ‘fundraising’ related to most of those random candy bar sales in parking lots are funds that go to an adult you’ll see sitting quietly in a car parked nearby.
I’m naive enough to have once been a victim of a parking lot high school fundraising scam. Back in the days when my kids were so little that I couldn’t tell the difference between a high school student and an adult con artist.
Glad the word is getting out about this scam.
+1
I’ve been forced to extend this outlook to ALL people approaching me for donations/money. I honestly don’t know who is on the up-and-up. I have no problem donating to causes, and I often do. But I try to do it through channels that prove legitimate.
I was approached a few years back by a kid in the publix parking lot who claimed to be raising funds for his debate team. When I asked him to argue a side on any issue he was stumped. I told him you’re either scamming people or the worst debate team ever.
That was the scam I fell for–debate team. But CVS parking lot. I asked them about what topics they debated and they were pretty inarticulate. But sillly me, I just thought they weren’t very good. DPD and the CVS manager (who called DPD when he saw what was going on) laughed and laughed at me.