Help the Fire Dept., but Don’t Get Burned

Scam artists know we’re more of a soft touch during the holidays. That’s why the calls are just starting to pick up.

So don’t be surprised if you get a telephone call soon inviting you to give money to your local police or firefighters. We’ve already been hit at our house for a police group. But scammers know both cops and firefighters can be an effective hook to tug at our heartstrings.

Just a small donation to show your support, a caller says, because they do so much for our community.

Yes, they do. But here’s a suggestion from Vince Bonacker, president of the Orange County Fire Chiefs Assn.:

Don’t give these callers a dime.

“These are scam artists, boiler-room specialists,” said Bonacker, who is the fire chief in the city of Orange. “Even if they do turn over to firefighters some of what they collect, it’s only a tiny percentage.”

Last week, Orange County’s fire chiefs met to discuss a specific request they’d all received from a group that wanted to create a nonprofit solicitation operation to collect on their behalf. The chiefs unanimously decided not only to turn the request down but to become proactive in fighting against telephone solicitors who use the term “firefighters” to solicit funds.

Here’s how these scams work.

A caller says he or she is raising funds for your local firefighter association and will have a representative in your neighborhood that very night. Could you please make a donation? You don’t even have to face anyone; just leave a check or cash underneath your doormat.

Even if you have no intention of leaving a check, don’t say yes just to get rid of them. I learned this from my own experience. What happens is they call you back the next day. They were so sorry that somehow they missed you that night. But lucky you, they had some new donations coming in from your neighborhood, and they will be back again tonight!

The Orange County district attorney’s office recently got a call from a resident asking whether he should donate money to a group representing disabled firefighters. No, was the D.A.’s emphatic answer.

Bonacker agrees: “This is strictly a play on your emotions, that here are firefighters who really need you. How would they even get the money to the disabled firefighters? They’re spread out among numerous fire departments.”

A law enforcement task force operates here in Orange County to try to prosecute those who actually violate the law with such scams. It’s called COBRA, and it’s made up of FBI agents and state and local authorities.

FBI Special Agent Julie McWilliams, spokeswoman for the agency in Orange County, said COBRA cannot discuss specific cases but warned: “It’s illegal to use the telephone wires to deceive people. We’re taking a very aggressive approach to anyone defrauding consumers that way.”

Here are law enforcement suggestions: Ask the solicitor for a telephone number you can call back. Ask for proof of what percentage of your donation will actually go to the firefighters and not be held back as “administrative costs.” Find out specifically who the money will go to, and then say you won’t donate until you’ve called that agency to verify that the solicitor has permission to represent it.

All of this has left Scott Atlas of Orange a bit baffled. He wants to squeeze money from you too, but he hates the thought of being identified as a scam artist.

It was Atlas who wrote the letter to local fire chiefs that got them upset about this whole issue.

His letterhead identifies his group as the “Fireman’s Assistance League” and identifies it as a nonprofit organization with a post office box in Santa Fe Springs.

Actually, the letterhead jumps the gun a little. There is no such nonprofit group formed yet. Atlas is just hoping to gain the official status.

Atlas is actually employed by a fire protection company in Orange County that installs sprinkler alarm systems. His bosses, Atlas says, asked him to put this group together because they had lots of customers who wanted to donate to firefighters for the tax benefit they could get from it.

Atlas said he wrote to nearly 200 agencies and organizations in the firefighting field asking to represent them in solicitations. This is all new to him, he says.

How many clients has he signed so far?

None.

“It’s an uphill battle,” Atlas said. “Because of bad past experiences, some fire departments haven’t really been willing to read what I have to offer.”

But Atlas said some have told him they will consider coming aboard after he has completed his paperwork to form his nonprofit group.

Atlas insists he would never defraud anyone over the telephone. But you have to wonder if his solicitors would tell consumers exactly how much of their money would be turned over to fire departments. Atlas said that he would have to keep more than half to stay in business but that he would donate 45.5% to the fire departments, much higher than most solicitors. His letter to fire departments, however, made no such guarantees.

In Atlas’ mind, local fire departments should be jumping to hook up with him. After all, he said in a letter to me, “What sense does it make to turn away support?”

Plenty, in Chief Bonacker’s eyes. Speaking for the other fire chiefs at their request, he said: “We were unanimous, in firm agreement, that we don’t want to have anything to do with [Atlas].”

By the way, Atlas was right that your donation to your local firefighters is tax deductible. But Bonacker says there’s an easy way to donate so that 100% of your donation goes to the right place.

“Make out a check directly to the city where you live and mark it as a firefighter donation,” he said. “That’s the only way to know your money went where you wanted it to go.”

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Monday and Thursday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling (714) 966-7789 or e-mail to jerry.hicks@latimes.com.