4 ms·

FBI Arrest Police Union President, Investigating Alleged ‘Fake Fundraisers’

27 points by DocFeind 4y ago

PaulHoule 4y ago
I regularly get phone calls from somebody who claims to be raising money for the police. They are belligerent if you ask something like "don't I already pay for the police in my taxes?" The one way I found to get them to hang up is tell them I read something in the Syracuse papers that said he's running a scam.
- lioeters 4y ago
  Years ago I knew someone who worked at a scammy telemarketing company. Their most profitable "campaign" was raising money for an organization, I think it was called "the Fraternal Order of Police", which had no official association with the police. For donations of up to $100, people would get a letter and a bumper sticker. The workers at the company was made up of teenagers, people straight out of prison, and poor people either homeless or on the verge. Alcohol and drugs were consumed daily on the job. The "best" employees were assholes who pretended to be a police officer, and bullied the most number of people on the telephone to promise to send money. Likely only a few percentage of the donation actually went to the police. It was an ugly scene.. EDIT: A trick I heard is that if you tell them to "Take my name off of your list", they're legally obligated to do so. Whether it actually works - I doubt it.
  - mikestew 4y ago
    I think it was called "the Fraternal Order of Police", which had no official association with the police. I don't know what defines "official", but the FOP is most definitely associated with the police: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraternal_Order_of_Police https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraternal_Order_of_Police A trick I heard is that if you tell them to "Take my name off of your list", they're legally obligated to do so. Yeah, you can almost hear them in the background falling all over themselves as they hurry to remove your name when you utter those magic words. They might be legally obligated, but someone has to enforce it in order for it to be effective. You have good reason to doubt the effectiveness. :-)
zach_garwood 4y ago
How does someone with the name Harold Sanders get the nickname "BJ"?
kurupt213 4y ago
I bet this is super common
celdon25 4y ago
If they can get a president, they can get a president of the union.
bell-cot 4y ago
For those reading far, far too much into the headline: - The "Union President" was only the president of a union local, in a city in Louisiana with a total population of ~62K. - There is no hint about the nature nor scale of the alleged 'Fake Fundraisers'. (I receive those "we are fundraising for the police..." unsolicited phone calls, too.) For all that article says (zilch) - these fundraisers might have been "Chili and cornbread for $10, drop by the lot behind City Hall on Sunday from noon to 4pm" sort of stuff. - The one drug deal that they give hard details about involved 3 pills, and a ~$100 profit for the dealer. So - very small scale stuff.

27 points by DocFeind 4y ago

I regularly get phone calls from somebody who claims to be raising money for the police. They are belligerent if you ask something like "don't I already pay for the police in my taxes?" The one way I found to get them to hang up is tell them I read something in the Syracuse papers that said he's running a scam.

lioeters 4y ago
Years ago I knew someone who worked at a scammy telemarketing company. Their most profitable "campaign" was raising money for an organization, I think it was called "the Fraternal Order of Police", which had no official association with the police. For donations of up to $100, people would get a letter and a bumper sticker. The workers at the company was made up of teenagers, people straight out of prison, and poor people either homeless or on the verge. Alcohol and drugs were consumed daily on the job. The "best" employees were assholes who pretended to be a police officer, and bullied the most number of people on the telephone to promise to send money. Likely only a few percentage of the donation actually went to the police. It was an ugly scene.. EDIT: A trick I heard is that if you tell them to "Take my name off of your list", they're legally obligated to do so. Whether it actually works - I doubt it.
- mikestew 4y ago
  I think it was called "the Fraternal Order of Police", which had no official association with the police. I don't know what defines "official", but the FOP is most definitely associated with the police: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraternal_Order_of_Police https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraternal_Order_of_Police A trick I heard is that if you tell them to "Take my name off of your list", they're legally obligated to do so. Yeah, you can almost hear them in the background falling all over themselves as they hurry to remove your name when you utter those magic words. They might be legally obligated, but someone has to enforce it in order for it to be effective. You have good reason to doubt the effectiveness. :-)

zach_garwood 4y ago

How does someone with the name Harold Sanders get the nickname "BJ"?

kurupt213 4y ago

I bet this is super common

celdon25 4y ago

If they can get a president, they can get a president of the union.

bell-cot 4y ago

For those reading far, far too much into the headline: - The "Union President" was only the president of a union local, in a city in Louisiana with a total population of ~62K. - There is no hint about the nature nor scale of the alleged 'Fake Fundraisers'. (I receive those "we are fundraising for the police..." unsolicited phone calls, too.) For all that article says (zilch) - these fundraisers might have been "Chili and cornbread for $10, drop by the lot behind City Hall on Sunday from noon to 4pm" sort of stuff. - The one drug deal that they give hard details about involved 3 pills, and a ~$100 profit for the dealer. So - very small scale stuff.