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Phony cash calls raise ire of fire department

The Flin Flon Fire Department is not calling people asking for donations, but that hasn’t stopped an alleged phone scammer from using the department’s name to grab cash before the holidays.
phone scams

The Flin Flon Fire Department is not calling people asking for donations, but that hasn’t stopped an alleged phone scammer from using the department’s name to grab cash before the holidays.

Fire Chief Chad Cooper was first alerted to the situation last week, when a department member was confronted by someone saying they received such a call.

“A person said they got a phone call from someone claiming to be from the fire department and looking for donations by phone. They were getting really aggressive, that person realized it was a scam and hung up the phone,” he said.

Cooper said he received other reports of the same scam being carried out in Flin Flon. The modus operandi of the crank callers appears to be the same in each case; claiming the fire department is holding a donation drive, suggesting a dollar amount in the hundreds, then becoming verbally abusive if the caller gets wise to the situation. So far, there have been no reports of lost money due to the calls.

The department is not, in fact, holding a donation drive. The only major fundraiser the department holds each year is the Boot Drive, which took place this fall. No fundraisers by the department take place over the phone, through mail or online.

“We would never solicit for anything by phone or by mail or anything like that,” said Cooper.

Once Cooper received multiple reports of the scam, he circulated a statement, saying the calls were not from the department. He said scammers may strike during the holiday season, hoping to leech off people’s seasonal generosity.

“As a caution, we want to create awareness. This time of year, people are trying to capitalize on everyone being jolly and wanting to help others in need. It’s a shame that they tried to capitalize on this time of year,” he said.

“It’s wearing away on people’s generosity. People get so paranoid now, it can be hard to know what’s a scam and what’s not.”

Cooper told anyone who suspects they’ve received a scam call to log the number and forward it and any other information to the RCMP.

“They can follow up and try to catch these scammers, get them shut down. Hopefully, we can see some justice out of it,” he said.

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