New door-to-door scam involves 'fake' Utah Food Bank reps

New door-to-door scam involves 'fake' Utah Food Bank reps

By Jessica Ivins

September 24th, 2014 @ 6:57pm

SALT LAKE CITY If someone comes to your door offering a free carpet cleaning in exchange for a donation of canned food, promptly say "thanks, but no thanks," and then call the Utah Food Bank.

Thats advice straight from officials with the Utah Food Bank, who are warning the public of a new scam where individuals use the food banks name to get into peoples homes.

The scam involves people going door to door claiming to be representatives of the food bank and carrying plastic bags featuring the Utah Food Bank label. They tell residents theyll give them a free carpet cleaning in exchange for a bag of food. The intentions of the scam are unclear.

The first red flag: the Utah Food Bank sets up locations for people to drop off donations, but it never sends people out to collect.

We dont do door-to-door solicitations. Were not in the carpet cleaning business, said Ginette Bott, the food banks chief development officer. We dont want people to think that we are encouraging this, supporting this, condoning this because this has nothing to do with the Utah Food Bank.

The potential scam is especially troubling because of its timing. The Utah Food Banks Hunger Action Month food drive is Saturday, and its a huge event for the food bank one it counts on to replenish its stores.

This is a really important time for food pantries to utilize this type of event, said Bott. It kind of helps them, if you will, recover from the summer months. With this food drive we can restock and prepare as we go into the holiday season.

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New door-to-door scam involves 'fake' Utah Food Bank reps