Food Bank cautions potential donors

The Yuma Community Food Bank has issued a warning to the community that phone call and letters people may have received asking for donations for the agency were sent fraudulently.

“This is a solicitation we didn't authorize,” Ronna Sue Stubbs, Food Bank president and CEO, said Friday.

Nor has the Food Bank received any money from the unauthorized solicitation.

Stubbs said the Food Bank has filed a fraud complaint with the Yuma Police Department.

The issue came to light from a woman who had received a letter with the Food Bank name and logo on it asking her for a check, to be sent to P.M.B. 347, 2554 W. 16th St., Yuma. The woman was attending a meeting at the Food Bank and asked if she could just leave her check there.

The letter states: “We need to close out the books on this event and would appreciate your continued support by sending your check today.”

Stubbs said that based on evidence that's been collected, “we believe it's connected to the organization that did the Magic Show in April.”

She said she was told by the UPS Store where the postal box was located that the mail was being forwarded to a Glenwood, Iowa, address to the same company name. Furthermore, a message on the 1-800 phone number listed in the letter refers to the Magic Show.

Stubbs said the Food Bank had been contacted by the organization to partner with the Magic Show as a fundraiser for the Food Bank.

“We thought that was a good thing ... something for the kids,” she said.

Since the show, the Food Bank has had only a few minor phone conversations with the organization and the only money it has received was from the Magic Show.

There was nothing in the contract giving authorization to the organization to open a postal box in the Food Bank's name or continue soliciting donations, Stubbs said.

She asks that anyone who received the letter or a phone call and sent a donation or gave out a credit card number to notify the Food Bank or YPD.

“We have no idea how many people were contacted,” Stubbs said, or where the organization came up with the contact information as the Food Bank does not share or sell its donor list.

She also stressed the importance of confirming the identity of anyone asking for donations.

“If you get a call or letter and you're not 100 percent sure, don't release information over the phone.”

Stubbs said she is concerned the fraud could be bigger than the Food Bank, possibly targeting other non-profit organizations not only in Yuma but across the nation.

In her 16 years with the Food Bank and in the agency's 32-year history, she's not aware of this sort of thing happening before.

“This is sad.”