Today’s paper mentioned sketchy fundraisers posing as the highway patrol, so that was on my mind when I got a call this evening from a 704 area code. A man claimed to be calling on behalf of the Police Protective Fund (PPF) and looking for tax-deductible donations. As soon as he said “tax-deductible,” I asked him “can I get your tax id?”

The folksy caller didn’t skip a beat, saying he’d have to get up from his desk to get it. After he got up, I heard a number of other telephone solicitors calling folks as the “North Carolina Police Protective Fund.” The main I talked with never said “North Carolina,” so I became a little more suspicious. He came back to the phone a minute or so later and dutifully read his organization’s tax id number: 74-2864446.
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