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01/10/10 - 09:06 PM
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Panama City, Fla:Law enforcement and Gulf Coast Medical Center are trying to track down scammers in Bay County. Residents of Panama City have been targeted for a scam involving Gulf Coast fundraising and a school trip.
Bunker’s Cove Road is known for lovely homes and a peaceful environment. Amy Shepherd lives there and says that scammers have broken that comfortable feeling one day last week. Shepherd says her husband was moved by their story “…they said the books would go to the children at Gulf Coast and that they were fundraising for a drama trip they were taking to England.”
Gulf Coast public affairs head Rod Whiting says there was no such fundraiser benefitting the hospital “…as of Friday we’d had 3 different reports of residents within the community representing the cove, Lynn Haven/ North Shore communities of people coming door to door under the story of raising money for Gulf Coast Medical Center. This is a scam. No one is authorized to sell money on behalf of the hospital.”
Shepherd says the two girls tried to convince her to buy 200 dollars worth of books: “…they talked me down to $55. $220 was a bit much. Unfortunately I wrote the check…”
But Shepherd isn’t the only one who was fooled. Friends living in north shore said that two girls had been visiting their neighborhood, and that a rash of burglaries soon followed. The sheriff’s office believes they’re casing as well as scamming.
Whiting says “The person who came to the door was representing themselves as a student of Florida State at Panama City. So we followed up with the university and they had no one enrolled in the university under the name that was given.”
Shepherd contacted the University of South Florida and got similar results: “I did contact USFand they stated that they knew nothing about this and they were disheartened that their reputation was being put on the line like this.”
Do not let any strangers into your home. Keep your windows and doors locked, and always turn on your alarm system if you can.
If young people come to your door under the auspice of fundraising for a college or university you should contact the Panama City Police Department at or the Bay County Sheriff’s Office at immediately.
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