Delawareans targeted in scam asking for donations to fire, EMS organizations

DELAWARE – The Delaware Volunteer Firefighter’s Association is warning residents about a phone scam that’s being reported all across the state.

Officials say they’ve gotten several reports over the past couple of weeks about phone calls asking for donations for Volunteer Fire Companies as well as Fire and EMS organizations. They say this tends to happen every year and scammers tend to use Delaware area codes to trick people. However, officials say Delaware fire organizations rarely ever call people in order to get donations.

“A lot of people are unsuspecting or don’t realize that in the state of Delaware, the volunteer fire companies very seldom if ever use phone solicitations. All their solicitations are by mail,” says Warren Jones, the Executive Manager of the Delaware Volunteer Firefighter’s Association.

Jones says if you receive any calls asking for donations for those types of organizations, you should ask the caller to send you written verification of the organization or contact your local volunteer fire company or the “Delaware Volunteer Firefighters Association to confirm.