I'm a local small business owner and received a call today at the office that I answered. Now, usually I am good about not answering scam calls but this had a 512 number and I answered in case it was a potential client. The guy starts going on about how he is calling because Shriners Circus is coming to the Brazos County Expo and they are asking local businesses to sponsor local underprivileged kids so that they can attend the fair. He dropped the names of a lot of local organizations including Voices for Children. He says sponsorship levels start at $150 and go to $1000. At this point, a customer walks in and I have to get off the phone.

I just called Voices for Children and they said they've never heard of this nor have they gotten tickets. Then I called the Expo to double check that there is in fact a circus coming to town and yes, Shriners Circus is coming to town in January. I told the expo what was going on and warned them to it.

Is this the new level of low that our society has hit? Surely this is a scam? I am doing more research now....anyone know or have experience? It's a great idea and I would happily buy tickets and give them straight to the organizations themselves but I sure as hell ain't giving money to this group. I am so disgusted!

Just a warning to my fellow business owners....

I'm not a business owner, but received a call on my cell phone this morning as well asking for a "small" donation of $150. I too was suspicious and told them no thanks. They weren't pushy and quickly got off of the phone after I declined. I have no idea if its a scam, but wasn't willing to just send $150 to someone that randomly called me.

Has to be a scam. I actually donated several months ago, and have yet to see/ hear about circus. They called back today (512-240-8869) wanting circus donation

I wonder if Barnum & Bailey, who typically use Reed Arena, might be a safer bet.

I never donate off a call, visit or email etc.

I wait a day and call the organization back.

Nashville,
What type of business do you have? Because I find it extremely suspect that I received an eerily similar call.

Shriner's always calls the business I work at. I'm not sure if it's actually them or not, but they are always very rude when I tell them I'm not interested. Saying things like, "Oh, so you don't want to help sick children?"

Have fielded a few Shriner's calls at work before and they are always very rude when I tell them not interested. They also say we have donated in the past when I know for a fact we never have.

It's not really them. Maybe it's people they contracted but it's not them. Every Shriner I have met over the years has been great.

That's fair. But even hired guns (an entirely different subject matter) should represent the organization well. If not, they are likely doing much more long term harm than any good that comes from the few donations.

These are not hired guns. It's a scam.

I've started wondering about this too. I get a call about every 3 months about the upcoming circus. I've given some money by a checks. I'm starting to think it's a scam since there hasn't been a circus yet. But I make the check out to the circus and I can't imagine someone being able to cash a Shriner check if it's a scam.

Let your friends and family know



Anyone calls on the phone, either A) hang up asap

OR

B) tell them to put in in writing and send in US mail


Avoid scams, con artists, etc

LunitadelNox said:

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Shriner's always calls the business I work at. I'm not sure if it's actually them or not, but they are always very rude when I tell them I'm not interested. Saying things like, "Oh, so you don't want to help sick children?"

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We must have had the exact same person because they said that to me too!

Before you hang up, PLEASE ASK WHICH GROUPS THEY HELP.

As someone who deals with children in poverty and a non-profit, I want to know who they list. Thanks!

I asked our BBB President and he said we need to call Shriners and Bryan PD.....

So when they called me on Friday, I had a client walk in and I told them I had to get off the phone but I'd call them back (because I wanted to try to dig deeper and get the true story.) I ended up leaving the office early and I came back to 15 missed calls from them this weekend....

If I talk to them again, I will try to get a list of the local groups...I am 95% positive he listed Voices for Children, so like I mentioned, I called them and they had no idea about this.

It's the Ben Hur Shriners from Austin area. The flyer I received shows they give tickets to Scotty's House, Twin City Mission, BV Community Action Agency, Young Life and Voices for Children. It says the circus is coming to the Expo Center on Jan. 11, 2017.

In fine print at the bottom: "Proceeds are for the benefit of Ben Hur Shriners. Contributions are not deductible as charitable contributions."

Well that will be news to Voices for Children...

Bump.

I just received another call from these guys today. I gave at least twice last year. They are asking for another circus in October 2017. There was supposed to be a circus this January...anyone know if there was one?

Just curious, has anyone confirmed with the Shriners that these guys are actually representing them?

I would think that they would want to know both if it is a scam, or if people they contracted are poorly representing their organization.

They called me again last week but I made sure to tell them upfront this time that I wasn't interested. Don't know if the Circus actually happened.

I don't know what's going on. But, I've decided to just give $$ directly to Shriner hospital or St Jude.

queso1 said:

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Bump.

I just received another call from these guys today. I gave at least twice last year. They are asking for another circus in October 2017. There was supposed to be a circus this January...anyone know if there was one?

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It is listed on the expo center website and there is an eventbrite listing for tickets. Carden Shrine Circus. So at least the event appears like it was real. (In January)

TXAggie1976 said:

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I asked our BBB President and he said we need to call Shriners and Bryan PD.....

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Bryan PD is not going to do a darn thing about it. Unfortunately, these things happen all the time and PD is limited in what they can/will do in response. Sadly, be very skeptical of these calls.

My folks got a call last week - the person wants to come to their house and get $20..
They called this morning and said they'd be by today... But that my parents could put the money under the front mat and they'd leave a receipt.

Spidey senses are tingling like mad... Suggested they not put money out and NOT open the door.

Anyone have updates on if this is going around BCS?

Whenever I get these calls I always ask for contact information. The usual stuff, like physical address, callback number, the account manager for the fund, etc. Usually I tell them I have to forward all of this information to my lawyer whenever I make donations.

9 times out of 10, they'll balk or hang up on me.

Wildmen03 said:

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Whenever I get these calls I always ask for contact information. The usual stuff, like physical address, callback number, the account manager for the fund, etc. Usually I tell them I have to forward all of this information to my lawyer whenever I make donations.

9 times out of 10, they'll balk or hang up on me.

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Yeah, they kind of snuck up on my dad with this one. He's 79 and usually sharp as a tack, but this one took him off guard. Even more reason for them to tell callers that they need to mail the information to them.

I got this call last week. Told them I was driving at the time and couldn't give them any information. I'm sure they'll call again in a few month.