Potential Scam - Door-to-Door

None | 11/23/2014 | Self

[IYAS9YAS]

Today I was visited by a young man who claimed his brother was killed in Afghanistan. He claimed his brother was a Rifleman and gave the 0311 MOS. I don't recall the unit he claimed his brother was with.

Something about his story just raised a red flag.

The claim was he was raising money to send care packages to troops. I thanked him, told him I was sorry about his brother, but that I wanted to check the website first.

The site on his "receipts" stated the charity's site was www.thepatriotproject.com (which I found didn't exist), but the man said it was really www.thepatriotproject.net. There was also a phone number, (515) 782-1240 (Des Moines, IA) that was not only associated with the patriot project site, but also www.caring4combatants.org.

Both sites are short on details, use the same background, and same pictures. Red flag again.

The last thing I found was a facebook post that basically called out Caring 4 Combatants as a scam. It can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/wwpinc.fans/posts/10152713624638415.

There's no other information out there on any of these sites/charities.

There is what appears to be a legitimate charity, www.patriot-project.org, which does not share any association (phone number or location) with the two sites above.

Has anyone else here been contacted by these guys?

[trisham]

No. I don’t answer the door unless the visitor has been invited.

[TurboZamboni]

could be someone copying their info.

see what the taxpayer ID # is if possible.

[IYAS9YAS]

I finally put a no soliciting sign on the front door even as tacky as it looks.

We have one, but it only seems to deter ghosts, as everyone else walks right up and rings the bell.

That's another reason the whole thing didn't seem right. Legit charities usually abide by the sign.

[IYAS9YAS]

see what the taxpayer ID # is if possible.

Funny enough, there wasn't one.

[leapfrog0202]

We are not far from you, near the CNM campus in NW Abq and haven’t come into contact with them.

Have you joined Nextdoor.com? Most of the housing areas up this way do & we all publicize things like this on there so that no one gets burned. Someone on there may have information on this group. You join based on where you live, like in our subdivision, there are 700 homes and 240 members on Nextdoor. Just an idea for future reference.

[IYAS9YAS]

Just an idea for future reference.

Thanks for that!

[OftheOhio]

Semper Fi. Many of us wish we could avenge them. Make no mistake the communist will rue the day yet.

[leapfrog0202]

I copied what you wrote and shared it in our neighborhood to see if anyone has experienced something similar.

I guess the only other thing you could do to protect yourself would be to ask to see their city permit. I think you’re right on about this group and the Facebook post is very telling.

[leapfrog0202]

You’re welcome. We recently had some Kirby sales people in the neighborhood and their van was pretty disreputable looking and people were scared. People shared info on the site as to where the van was on any given day and time because when it first started appearing people didn’t know if they were casing homes or what.

Based on the info given, I drove up and confronted them, asked for their permit from the city, took a picture, called their supervisor and the Kirby dealers in the area and once I found they were legit, I shared it and people relaxed a little bit.

[Theo]

I did a WHOIS lookup on the sites, and they are registered by the same person: Daniel Goding. THEPATRIOTPROJECT.NET was just registered on Friday, Nov. 11, 2014.

It doesn’t look legit.

[Abby4116]

I let my dog do most of the talking

The Jehovah Witness ladies stopped visiting when I got my German Shepherd.

[2CAVTrooper]

Woundedwarriorproject.org

Lonesurvivorfoundation.org

Missionvalor.org

Soldiersangels.org

Greenberetfoundation.org

Heroesandhorses.org

Pawsandstripes.org

Are all legit.

[Ditter]

Here in Houston the police tell us to go to the door but don.t open it. Let the person know that the house is occupied but wave them away. If no one comes to the door they may just kick the door in.

[IYAS9YAS]

It doesn’t look legit.

Thanks! I forget about these things that are available, and just google the names...

[IYAS9YAS]

I am somewhat resistant to scams and whatnot.

So sorry for your loss. It's scammers like these who make life doubly miserable. Plying on heart-srings, using real loss/tragedy to gain sympathy then laughing all the way to the bank.

[moovova]

Never heard of them.

There are plenty of well recognized charities you can give money to without having to invest time/questions into.

You’re good to make people aware of this.

[familyop]

"He claimed his brother was a Rifleman and gave the 0311 MOS"

For the Army infantry, it was 11B (infantry), when I was a 12B (combat engineer, combat type). Engineers were more recently 21B (public knowledge now, with the Net and all). I would guess that infantry is still 11B but not sure. Could it have been a Marine small arms designator (Marine infantry)?

[RetiredTexasVet]

I’m sorry sir, but we have not fed the dog. But it I open the door that will change immediately.

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

A door to door scam? Get outta here! For realz?

You sound really old

[X-spurt]

They won’t pass our “3 dog hackles up sniff test” as they try to come up the driveway.