A new scam is making the rounds in the Barrhead and Westlock area.
A couple of women claiming to be from the Barrhead Alliance Church are canvassing door-to-door for donations to help the families of murder victims in Calgary.
Cpl. Riley Sutherland, of the Barrhead RCMP detachment said they first received a complaint on Wednesday, July 20, about the scam by one of the parishioners of the church who had been solicited by the women.
The parishioner then contacted the church’s pastor, who called the RCMP to tell them about the scam.
“The Barrhead Alliance Church is definitely not going door to door asking for money. It is a scam,” she said, adding that is why people must be cautious when talking to door solicitors.
“If anyone is going door to door asking for a donation or for information, always ask to see their credentials first and never give them any information or money,” Riley said. “If it is a reputable organization they will give you all the information so you can investigate and if everything checks out and it is something that interests you, then you can make a donation later.”
As for some of the other scams that are circulating, she said the detachment is still receiving complaints about fraudsters trying to solicit credit card and other personal information over the telephone.
For those types of calls, Riley said a person’s best course of action is to simply hang-up on them.
Barrhead Alliance Church pastor Trevor Crowe, who found out about the scam from an e-mail from a Westlock resident, confirmed that the church isn’t going door-door fundraising.
He said while on occasion the church has gone door-to-door it usually is in the form of a bottle drive or the like.
“It is unfortunate that there are individuals who are using our church’s name for something like this. Obviously these people need help and we will pray for them, but at the same time we want people to know that it isn’t our church doing this,” Crowe said, adding if anyone is approached by someone claiming to be their from their church and asks for money to call Barrhead Alliance Church as well as the RCMP.
