[On-going Scams - Post them here]

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moshe
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by moshe »

on Thunderbird, tools, preferences, go to the bottom of page, click Config Editor button, search 4 puny, toggle false --> true

HTH,
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LadyGeek
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by LadyGeek »

Here's how to show Punycode in Firefox: Enable or Disable IDN Punycode in Firefox Address Bar in Windows

It doesn't disable Punycode, but instead changes the URL to clearly show that what you've clicked doesn't match what you think it does.
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roamingzebra
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by roamingzebra »

sport wrote: Sun Jan 02, 2022 2:57 pm
roamingzebra wrote: Sun Jan 02, 2022 1:49 pm
Tubes wrote: Sun Jan 02, 2022 9:35 am The good news is you can fix this on Firefox. Go to "about:config", search for "punycode" and switch the default from false to true. Your hovers will then resolve to the punycode and tip you off that there is some trickery going on.
People who use Thunderbird as their mail client need to do the same thing in about:config since it's a Mozilla product.

I made the change several years ago when the option was in a different place. With the latest T-bird version, one just has to go to Preferences and type "about" in the search box. That will lead to about:config.
When I enter "about" in the search box, it just shows "keywords" and "manage certificates". It does not show about:config.
Do you have any suggestions? It also says my Thunderbird is up to date.
Ah, I use Linux. That probably explains it. I didn't think there were differences between Thunderbird on the various OS's.

But yeah, a later poster points out you can just scroll to the bottom of the Preferences page and find what you need.
sport
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by sport »

moshe wrote: Sun Jan 02, 2022 3:32 pm on Thunderbird, tools, preferences, go to the bottom of page, click Config Editor button, search 4 puny, toggle false --> true

HTH,
~Moshe
Thank you.
grok87
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by grok87 »

i got a scam message today that "showed" as being from mutual of omaha about reverse mortgages. but when i hovered over the link it was from some scammer
RIP Mr. Bogle.
blueberrypi
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by blueberrypi »

Has anyone had a police scam contact them? I got two calls from an actual police dispatch phone number several towns away. I did not answer. No voicemail was left and when I called the police station they took down my number but no one was interested in talking to me. Could be something.. or nothing?
sport
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by sport »

I was looking at some sites on the net and I got a pop-up that said my Chrome browser was out of date. "Click here to update".
I looked at my browser header and there was no update indicated. I ignored the pop-up.
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Tubes
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by Tubes »

Nasty scam involving a valid attempt at school enrollment, followed up by compromised email.

DW got a mystery mail with a weird botch of her name from an on-line school. It all looked legit, except that her name was really weird. (Think something like "Joe Smith" gets turned into "Jorry Smithster".) She didn't click anything, even though it appears to really come from this real institution.

Later in the day, she examines her spam folder and sees that a few minutes later, she got a followup "Complete Enrollment" form that had some sort of spoofing addresses. Google dumped it into spam. DW took no further action and didn't even open it.

So, this scammer:
- Starts the process with a valid ping-back from a valid institution, simply by starting enrollment using her email and a guess at her name
- Scammer follows up through a different method attempting to get information

The whole thing is strange and curious, enough to tempt you to clicking away.
jarhead
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by jarhead »

I recently posted am item for sale on FB Marketplace.. within a few minutes someone sent a message that they were interested in purchasing the item and provided their cell number for me to text my address to them. I did that and the scammer also said that he wants to text me a code to read back to confirm that I am legit. The code was actually from goog.xxxx and at that point I realized that it was a scam. Doing some research about it, it appears that it's a scam to get a Google Voice number.

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2021/ ... w-avoid-it
https://support.google.com/voice/thread ... x-it?hl=en
Mudpuppy
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by Mudpuppy »

jarhead wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 10:06 am I recently posted am item for sale on FB Marketplace.. within a few minutes someone sent a message that they were interested in purchasing the item and provided their cell number for me to text my address to them. I did that and the scammer also said that he wants to text me a code to read back to confirm that I am legit. The code was actually from goog.xxxx and at that point I realized that it was a scam. Doing some research about it, it appears that it's a scam to get a Google Voice number.

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2021/ ... w-avoid-it
https://support.google.com/voice/thread ... x-it?hl=en
Just a hint if you're going to be selling things online. See if your local police/sheriff department has a part of their lobby and/or parking lot for online sales. Many departments will have a designated area that is well-covered by cameras for local residents to complete online sales. The advantage of such an area is two-fold: you don't accidentally give your actual address to scammers and asking to meet at the police/sheriff online sales area scares off scammers leaving just legitimately interested parties (for the most part, there's always exceptions).
jarhead
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by jarhead »

Mudpuppy wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 4:06 pm
jarhead wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 10:06 am I recently posted am item for sale on FB Marketplace.. within a few minutes someone sent a message that they were interested in purchasing the item and provided their cell number for me to text my address to them. I did that and the scammer also said that he wants to text me a code to read back to confirm that I am legit. The code was actually from goog.xxxx and at that point I realized that it was a scam. Doing some research about it, it appears that it's a scam to get a Google Voice number.

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2021/ ... w-avoid-it
https://support.google.com/voice/thread ... x-it?hl=en
Just a hint if you're going to be selling things online. See if your local police/sheriff department has a part of their lobby and/or parking lot for online sales. Many departments will have a designated area that is well-covered by cameras for local residents to complete online sales. The advantage of such an area is two-fold: you don't accidentally give your actual address to scammers and asking to meet at the police/sheriff online sales area scares off scammers leaving just legitimately interested parties (for the most part, there's always exceptions).
Thanks for the heads-up on that... I found this list online:
http://www.safetradestations.com/safetr ... -list.html
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familythriftmd
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police fund phone calls?

Post by familythriftmd »

[Thread merged into here --admin LadyGeek]

Does anyone get unsolicited calls about some police assistance fund or some sort? I figure that's spam. The guy knew my name some how, which was weird.
Silk McCue
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by Silk McCue »

Most everyone gets unsolicited calls. Many today are scams. Never giving to someone that calls you on the phone is a pretty good idea.

It is safer not to answer calls on a personal line if you don’t recognize the caller. It is very easy for folks get your name and number in todays internet world.

Cheers
jebmke
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by jebmke »

We turned off our ringer on the landline and it is now peaceful.
Don't trust me, look it up. https://www.irs.gov/forms-instructions-and-publications
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by jebmke »

Silk McCue wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 11:18 am It is very easy for folks get your name and number in todays internet world.
Facebook, Google and Palantir know everything - including things you don't even know about yourself.
Don't trust me, look it up. https://www.irs.gov/forms-instructions-and-publications
shess
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by shess »

familythriftmd wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 11:07 am Does anyone get unsolicited calls about some police assistance fund or some sort? I figure that's spam. The guy knew my name some how, which was weird.
AFAICT, there are two scammy variants of the police-fund or firefighters-fund calls.

1) They're simply a straight-up scam, unrelated to anyone.

2) They're a fundraising/lobbying shop, and your donations mostly go to overhead (aka, salaries for the people who set things up).

In either case, they are leaning on a certain kind of story to separate you from your dollars. If you need some toughening up to tell them no-thank-you, go look up stats for what kinds of pay and benefits and pensions people in your town/city/state get.
quietseas
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by quietseas »

If I wanted to make a donation to my local community I would reach out to the local organizations I wanted to give to rather than respond to a tele marketer. Or I would search for local organizations and use my Donor Advised Fund to contribute anonymously.
Geologist
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by Geologist »

I received a "police fund" call for which they asked for my mother who had been deceased for three years and had never had my phone number. So knowing your name isn't that weird.
Parthenon
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by Parthenon »

The last time I received such a call I interrupted his sales pitch and asked "Are you a real person?" He hesitated and his reply was "I understand" with a sad voice and hung up. I noticed some peculiarities to several of these calls and realized they were computer generated.

Ed
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sherwink
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by sherwink »

I treat every unsolicited phone call as a scam candidate. I know who I give to, and why they'd want to call me. But today's scammers are always on the lookout to take in the vulnerable, unsuspecting, and naive, to finance their urgent plea for money to continue their purportedly worthy, dedicated, righteous cause.
MarkBarb
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by MarkBarb »

I set up my phone so that it doesn't ring for numbers not in my contact list. If it is important, they can leave a voicemail. It makes it much easier to ignore all the spam callers, fundraisers, pollsters, and the like.
adamthesmythe
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by adamthesmythe »

The latest one wanted money for police DOGs.

At best a tiny fraction of the money goes to the cause. I'm betting none.
quietseas
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by quietseas »

adamthesmythe wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 11:42 am The latest one wanted money for police DOGs.

At best a tiny fraction of the money goes to the cause. I'm betting none.
I'd guess the dogs at most law enforcement organizations already get better care than humans who work there.
prd1982
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by prd1982 »

I suspect most are not scams,but rather terrible ways to give to charity because of their overhead. The callers seem to represent national organizations, not your local police. I am disappointed that the local police unions don’t come out and say not to give to them
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JoeRetire
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by JoeRetire »

familythriftmd wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 11:07 am Does anyone get unsolicited calls about some police assistance fund or some sort? I figure that's spam. The guy knew my name some how, which was weird.
Every year.

It's not technically a scam, it's a company that makes calls for the police to solicit donations. The police don't do any of the work, and get only a small share of the proceeds.

I handle my charitable contributions once every month. Whenever I get a call, I always say the same thing - "If you send me information, I'll consider donating at the end of the month". This "police fund" can't ever be bothered to send information, so they get nothing.
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Dusn
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by Dusn »

We have a call cell phone that the surgeons take when we’re on call to field hospital emergencies. So technically we can’t turn it off even at night. It rings every hour from one of these robocall/spam calls. I’ve personally handed each of our ER docs my personal cell # to use instead but sometimes they forget or a new locums doc/travel nurse is calling or they’re not calling from the known hospital number. These robocallers are infuriating.
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NCPE
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by NCPE »

Probably a less than honorable paid fundraising mill.

Several years ago I received a solicitation call from someone claiming to be a member of the local County Volunteer Firefighter's Assocation requesting a donation in exchange for some concert tickets. The conversation went south rather quickly when I informed the gentleman on the phone that I was a local Fire Chief, the Vice President of the Association he claimed to represent, we weren't doing any phone solicitations and that his name was not on our member roster.

After several minutes of heated conversation the solicitor finally admitted he worked for an out of state fundraising company hired by the local Paramedic's Union to raise money for the Union Chapter and had no association with the Volunteer Firefighter's Assocation. A quick to the point phone call to the Union ended this particular fundraising campaign but not sure how many people had already been deceived by the solicitor.

If you would like to make a donation to your local 501c(3) nonprofit public safety agency by all means do so, they can certainly use the donation.
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mrmass
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by mrmass »

Ranks up there with the "Human Fund" :mrgreen:
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Abe
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by Abe »

I frequently get these calls. I think it's a recording because the voice sounds exactly the same every time. I just hang up.

At one time I had a very small business . Every year the police chief in town along with a man selling calendar ads would come by my business. The calendar salesman would try to sell me an ad on the local police calendar. He said the proceeds would go to the police department. I did this for a few years, but one year I asked him how much of the proceeds went to the police department. He didn't want to tell me, but he finally told me about 10% went to the police department. The remaining 90% went to the calendar company. I told him I might as well just make a donation to the police department directly which is what I did. I mailed a check to the police department for the same amount that the calendar ad cost. A few days later I received the check back from the police department along with a note saying they could not accept donations. A few days later the police chief came by and said I could make the check out to him personally. I declined. :annoyed
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YeahBuddy
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by YeahBuddy »

Yes they are scams. Local PD came out and stated it. I suspect any unsolicited call or email is a scam unless I can prove otherwise.
Also never give money via Western Union. Never donate to any fund you haven't researched on your own and triple checked that they are real and help the cause they say they do.
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squirm
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by squirm »

So people still actually give $$$ to someone doing cold calls?? They must, otherwise these scammers wouldn't exist. There's a sucker born every minute, as they say.
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ThereAreNoGurus
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by ThereAreNoGurus »

FBI issues new warning on QR codes: How scammers can steal your data
https://abc7.com/qr-code-warning-fbi-co ... /11491522/

On the same page there is mention of "scams targeting Zelle app users rising as criminals get more creative."
Trade the news and you will lose.
bob60014
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by bob60014 »

Good info above. I mentioned this a few weeks ago when this topic came up, that when I worked in public safety, (north shore burbs, Chicago) we would get asked all the time about donation/solicitations like these. Our standard reply was to remind the residents that their taxes are paying for these services. They usually thought about it for a few seconds and we would get a, ”oh yeah, that's right" :oops: , response!
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celia
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by celia »

quietseas wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 11:45 am
adamthesmythe wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 11:42 am The latest one wanted money for police DOGs.

At best a tiny fraction of the money goes to the cause. I'm betting none.
I'd guess the dogs at most law enforcement organizations already get better care than humans who work there.
We had two police dogs die one year, one in the line of duty and one not. Dog-lovers in our neighborhood wanted to help get a new dog, but they are quite expensive, because of the training.
tvubpwcisla
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by tvubpwcisla »

Nothing wrong with supporting your local PD.
AlphaLess
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by AlphaLess »

quietseas wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 11:28 am If I wanted to make a donation to my local community I would reach out to the local organizations I wanted to give to rather than respond to a tele marketer. Or I would search for local organizations and use my Donor Advised Fund to contribute anonymously.
^^^^

This.

My phone number area code has nothing to do with where I live.

So occasionally, when I get those calls, and they try to throw some "local" information.
Would you like to support BLAH-BLAH for your County XYZ.
I tell them: No, because I don't live in County XYZ. You should call people in County XYZ.
And hang up.

They always have professional actor's voice. Seems like a legit scam.
As in: it is a scam that is very well setup.
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fposte
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by fposte »

Parthenon wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 11:34 am The last time I received such a call I interrupted his sales pitch and asked "Are you a real person?" He hesitated and his reply was "I understand" with a sad voice and hung up. I noticed some peculiarities to several of these calls and realized they were computer generated.

Ed
A lot of it is this "agent-assisted automation technology". They can sound very real until you ask them a stumper.
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vanbogle59
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by vanbogle59 »

fposte wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 3:08 pm
Parthenon wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 11:34 am The last time I received such a call I interrupted his sales pitch and asked "Are you a real person?" He hesitated and his reply was "I understand" with a sad voice and hung up. I noticed some peculiarities to several of these calls and realized they were computer generated.

Ed
A lot of it is this "agent-assisted automation technology". They can sound very real until you ask them a stumper.
I sometimes try to keep spammers on the line for as long as possible.
Especially if my son is around to amuse (I put them on speaker).

"My I speak with X?"
"I'm sorry, he's at chemo. Can I help you?"
"Do you support Y?"
"Oh yes. Doesn't everyone? Well there is my neighbor. If I give you money can you get rid of him for me?"
....

Sometimes they call me really nasty names after they smell a rat.
My only goal is to make my son pee his pants laughing.
ClassII
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by ClassII »

tvubpwcisla wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 3:02 pm Nothing wrong with supporting your local PD.
And I happily write a check for my property taxes to do so. I'm quite grateful for the work they do but I've also seen their pension and benefits. They are doing just fine.

Besides that these unsolicited calls are just scams. Even if they are technically non-profit charities they're usually set up to syphon money to the people operating the fund and very little goes to the actual cause. This goes for a lot of different charities so it's always smart to do your due diligence. Just like studying mutual funds always check the expense ratio.
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jabberwockOG
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by jabberwockOG »

To avoid getting scammed and ripped off never give any donation to a person or organization via an unsolicited phone call or email. I extend that same policy to doing business - I will never use a service or buy a product from any company or individual that approaches us via unsolicited phone, email, or in person door knock.
Yooper
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by Yooper »

shess wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 11:27 am
familythriftmd wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 11:07 am Does anyone get unsolicited calls about some police assistance fund or some sort? I figure that's spam. The guy knew my name some how, which was weird.
AFAICT, there are two scammy variants of the police-fund or firefighters-fund calls.

1) They're simply a straight-up scam, unrelated to anyone.

2) They're a fundraising/lobbying shop, and your donations mostly go to overhead (aka, salaries for the people who set things up).

In either case, they are leaning on a certain kind of story to separate you from your dollars. If you need some toughening up to tell them no-thank-you, go look up stats for what kinds of pay and benefits and pensions people in your town/city/state get.
Exactly. Once they identify themselves and launch into their spiel, I make my way to my filing cabinet, and pull up last year's city taxes. When they get to the point where they ask if they can "count on me to contribute" I simply tell them I already have, quote them how much I paid into the police/fire pension fund that year and tell them I'm pretty much tapped out. And then politely bid them good day.
garzjoh
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by garzjoh »

They are a scam. They get my numbers from my business registration with the state.

Due to it being a business line, we answer all calls, but as soon as they start, we hang up, then block/report spam. Every time, they call with a new area code/number which is just further evidence that they are not on the up and up.

When I researched it years ago, they were generally considered to not be legitimate organizations with none of the money going to the cause they claimed.
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quantAndHold
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by quantAndHold »

My number is in the federal do not call registry. I assume any call I get from someone I haven’t done business with before is a scam.
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JoMoney
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by JoMoney »

I've got them, during the day at my work number, I don't answer unrecognized numbers on my personal phone...
I hang up as soon as they say who/what it is.
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tigermilk
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by tigermilk »

If they can actually get to the point where I may respond to them (i.e., I don't hang up) I respond the same way as I do with sales calls - "I never buy anything over the phone, but you are free to send me info by mail." Needless to say I never get follow up mail.
mkc
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by mkc »

They are basically a scam - so very little (10% or less) of the donation goes to the intended recipient.

We've gotten them for over 30 years, so it's not new.

And once you engage them, and even worse if you agree to donate, you will be inundated with similar "charity drives".

They particularly prey on seniors....
Mr. Rumples
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Re: police fund phone calls?

Post by Mr. Rumples »

Can't say for sure, only when we lived in CO, I went to a fraud seminar put on by the Denver DA's office. When asked specifically about "police funds" for lack of a better catch all term, the presenter said they were a scam.

As noted above, ask them for their financial statement by mail. They should also be on the IRS's website as a tax exempt organization and in most states have to have a state license to collect charitable donations.

If folks want to make donations to public safety folks, one way to do it is when you see firefighters at the grocery store, help pay for them. Where I live, they have to pay for the food consumed at the firehouse. That was news to me, I always had thought it was part of the dept.'s budget.
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by LadyGeek »

I merged familythriftmd's thread into the ongoing discussion.
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Tubes
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by Tubes »

Look on Charity Navigator to get a feel for what is good or not. A quick search on "police" will get you quite a few zero or one star charities, many with extra advisories and warnings. Extraordinary compared to the typical charity. Careful!

Support your police and fire by first talking to them, thanking them, and perhaps inviting them to give a safety talk to your local community. That goes much farther than "charity." We had one of these talks a few summers ago in our community gathering area and it was great.

Here's a typical police support charity with zero stars on Charity Navigator. 82% goes to fundraising. 11% goes to the police.Image
dillybob
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by dillybob »

My 25 shares of VTI I just bought several weeks ago.

JK lol.
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