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Thursday, April 24, 2008

Beware of Fraudulent Telemarketing Campaign for Firefighters

Thanks to Pat Mc Elroy from the Santa Barbara Firefighters Association for sending me the following about a local scam telemarketing campaign:

We have been made aware of a telephone solicitation campaign purportedly raising money for "Santa Barbara Firefighters". We want the people of the Santa Barbara area to know that we are not affiliated with any telemarketing program and that any money raised will, in all probability, be lining the pockets of scam artists. We are periodically beset by these types of operations most notably in the wake of the line of duty death of a local Fireifghter in 1999. At that time telemarketers told unsuspecting residents that the money would be used to pay for "counseling for his young widow". Please don't be taken in by this completely fraudulent operation.

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3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for the heads up! I received a call today from an organization identifying themselves as "The Association of Firefighters and Paramedics". When questioned, they said they were based in Santa Ana, and gave me this website:
http://www.afpcares.org/

4/26/2008 2:44 PM  
Blogger Sara De la Guerra said...

PLEASE REMEMBER TO USE A NAME!

I let this one go as it adds to the discussion....

4/26/2008 4:14 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

'The Association of Firefighters and Paramedics' afpcares.org seems to be a real charity, you can see their reported information at Charity Navigator website
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=8222&print=1

The retired rescue worker I spoke with on the phone did say that the best way to give is to go to your local burn center and find out how to give to them, in your own area.

6/18/2008 4:16 PM  

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