FULLERTON : Fire Dept. Warns of Fake Solicitors

The Fire Department is warning residents about a phone solicitation in which callers who say they represent the Fullerton Disabled Firefighters or the Los Angeles Burn Unit are asking for donations.

“There are no such organizations,” said Larry Greene, Fullerton’s acting fire chief.

He emphasized that the Fire Department and the Fullerton Firefighters Assn. have not authorized any group to solicit funds on their behalf.

Sylvia Palmer Mudrick, the department’s public information coordinator, said Wednesday: “These kinds of things happen periodically. Sometimes it happens to the Police Department, sometimes to the Fire Department.”

Mudrick said at least six people have reported being contacted in the phone solicitation since late July.

Greene said the method of operation is for a caller to solicit a contribution, then become verbally abusive if the request is denied.

If the resident agrees to make a donation, the caller will refuse to supply an address to which the check can be mailed.

Instead, the caller will promptly send someone to the resident’s home to pick up the check. In at least one case, Greene said, the check was altered to make it for a larger amount.

Greene is advising people who think they may have been contacted by phony solicitors to contact the Police Department at (714) 738-6715.