Waynesburg Chamber warns of scam
WAYNESBURG – The Waynesburg Area Chamber of Commerce is warning of advertising scams at work in the Greene County area.
Several business members in the community have recently received calls from companies claiming to be part of the Chamber regarding the solicitation of various advertisement opportunities.
Chamber Executive Director Melody Longstreth said most of these companies are not working with the chamber or any other local organization. She said this has been an issue for more than 30 years now, but they always become more active during this time of year.
“There are a lot of people soliciting for sports calendars, cards with dates of sporting events and even plastic cups,” Longstreth said.
The only authorized advertisement that the Chamber office is aware of right now is a sports calendar being solicited by All American Sports or All American Publishing for Central Greene School District.
According to Longstreth, this problem is hard to deal with because it is not illegal. However, she said it is an unethical business practice to cite the organization in order to raise more money.
The chamber warned of a few red flags that businesses can look out for to help deal with these scams.
One red flag is a cold call. If a business receives a call about the solicitation of advertisements and has not heard anything from that organization before, this is a sign of a scam, Longstreth said. She said anything coming from the chamber will be distributed through emails or newsletters long before a request call takes place.
Another issue is if they cannot provide a local phone number. When a business receives a solicitation for advertising, always ask for a local number to call back. Longstreth said names are not enough because anyone can go on the Internet to find the names of people within an organization.
“People have used my name before,” Longstreth said.
If the caller is asked for a local phone number and hesitates for a long period of time or states that they will call back, Longstreth said, that is another sign.
The best way to handle these scams is through doing quick background searches, she said.
“You have got to be buyer beware,” Longstreth said.
She said as soon as the call becomes questionable, get as much information as possible and then follow up on it by calling locally and doing homework about the request.
Also, if a business questions the request for solicitation for advertising, they can contact the chamber office, which will investigate it further.