Wessex Square HOA

Scam Notice 11/9/07

Door to door sales

Recently, I was contacted by residents in the Old Foxcroft area about a door to door salesman claiming to be a student at UNC-Greensboro. The salesman claimed that he was a junior at UNC-G and a musician in their wind ensemble. He further claimed that he was raising money for the group to travel to New York City for a New Year’s Eve benefit concert.

I contacted the staff at UNC-G and spoke with a John Locke, who identified himself as the professor of music there. He told me that the school does have a fine wind ensemble that travels and performs, but they do not engage in door to door sales to raise money and do not have a trip to NYC planned.

I’d like to remind everyone that we had a person going door to door a few months ago claiming to be a baseball player at UNC-Charlotte and raising money for uniforms. That too was found to be a false story.

If someone comes to your door and gives you the wind ensemble story, please call 911 and ask for an officer to respond. I’d also advise you to be very wary of purchasing any items from a door to door salesperson that you will have trouble locating and/or contacting at a later date if there is a problem with the product or your order. If you do not wish to deal with the person directly, you can always speak to them through a closed door or ignore the doorbell.

Please pass this information along to your neighbors.

Sgt. Rich Stahnke
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department
Providence Division