Beware of calls from boiler-room solicitors

Earlier this month, Hollis police warned residents not to give money to anyone claiming to be fundraising for the Hollis Police Association because no such organization exists.

Apparently someone who was called got suspicious and pressed the caller further. The caller admitted he did not work for the Hollis Police Department but had been hired to raise money for the Hollis Police Association, police said. When the local resident followed up with a call to the police department, the scam was revealed.

In the same time period, Nashua residents were getting calls from people claiming to be “from the Nashua police department.” Given the situation in Hollis, The Telegraph contacted Nashua police to see if a similar scam was under way.

Capt. Scott Howe, detective bureau commander, looked into the situation and reported back that the calls in Nashua were authorized as part of a Police Athletic League fundraiser.

What many people don’t realize, even when the calls are legitimate, is that the caller has nothing to do with the Nashua Police Department or the Police Athletic League. It’s common for police and fire departments to hire professional fundraisers to raise money for the charities or professional associations they support.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, of course, unless donors object to the fact that 30-percent or more of the money raised goes into the pockets of the professional fund-raiser, not the designated charity.

The frequency of these calls sets the stage for the kind of scam that was perpetrated in Hollis.

We’ve become so accustomed to getting such calls that it becomes difficult to separate the scams from the legitimate, sub-contracted fund-raising.

And you can be sure, these callers don’t start their sales pitch with an honest opening, such as “Hello, I’m John Doe, hired by the Police Department to raise money for the Police Athletic League, and we take 30 percent.”

Some are outright deceptive, with opening lines like, “Hello, I’m John Doe with the local firefighters calling today in the hope that you’ll help us support your local fire department.”

Any resistance is met with the hard-sell, referring to the sacrifice and contributions of our public safety personnel.

When pressed on their affiliation, most of the callers will admit that they are not employees of, or volunteers for, the organization they initially claimed to represent. Impersonating an officer is a serious crime. But they are very skilled in deflecting the question unless it is asked exactly the right way.

Similarly, when asked, “How much of my contribution will go directly to the department,” most acknowledge that about one-third of the donation goes to pay the fundraiser. That question, also, must be asked with precise wording.

To his credit, Capt. Howe in Nashua responded immediately to our call regarding the Nashua fundraiser, and said his officers, “will be addressing the company to insure the accurate and appropriate message is delivered to the public.”

There is a reason these professionals focus on police and fire departments or veterans groups. Most of us have a great deal of respect for the public safety and military personnel who risk their well-being every day to ensure ours. It is one of the hardest solicitations to decline, and so is the most lucrative for the fund-raising firms.

So if you don’t mind that 30 cents of every dollar donated is going out of the community, then by all means, give freely when these calls are made. But at least make an informed decision. Or donate directly, in which case every penny goes to the cause.

The organizations that use this fund-raising method would be well-served by a careful review of the actual net to the organization from the funds collected, and might consider that with use of their own volunteers they could retain all of the money raised for the worthwhile causes they support.