An employee of the City received a fax at work that was seen for what it is, a scam. The heading is "Charity Foudation" and originates from Mother Helena Daline. The fax goes on to explain she is a childless widow on her deathbed and is looking for someone to manage her nearly ten million dollar estate once she passes and promises one million dollars if you are willing to help.

It goes on to state that should you be willing to help to contact her attorney, who by the way does not return my calls or emails. Should you receive such a fax, please disregard it and just throw it away.

Recently a person has taken cash from several businesses in the greater Milwaukee area by impersonating a Fire Inspector. He arrives at the door and verbally identifies himself as the Fire Inspector and states he needs to check fire extinguishers. He is allowed into the business and left unescorted and not long after he leaves the business discovers that he has taken cash that is left in an unlocked safe or otherwise unlocked and unattended.

The most recent reported incident took place in Brookfield where he was described as a black male, mid 30's - mid 40's, 6'2", 180lbs, wearing work style clothing and left in a late 1990's to early 2000's white Cadillac Deville after taking $600 in cash.

In Wauwatosa our Fire Inspectors all wear white shirts, have a badge on their shirts and will present an official picture ID card upon request.

Please consider the following simple steps for anyone conducting work or inspecting not only your business but your residence as well:

• Never leave any cash out in the open
• Keep safes locked at all times
• Never leave any valuables out in the open
• Never leave any banking or credit documents out in the open
• Never leave any personal identifying information out in the open
• Never leave inspectors / contractors unescorted in your business or home

• A financial institution will never solicit you for information they already have. If you do receive a solicitation regarding an existing account contact your local bank using an existing telephone number or stop by in person.

• Never give out your personal information unless you are dealing with a legitimate financial institution who you have done business with in the past.

  Unfortunately many people of various socio-economical backgrounds fall victim to scams. I am the first to admit I am no expert as to what is happening in today’s world as it relates to scams. That being said, a colleague of mine, Officer Joel Dhein of the Glendale, WI Police Department is a bit more versed on this topic than I am. Officer Dhein hosts a weekly podcast called "Police On The Scene With A Crime Prevention Lean". Recently Officer Dhein called South Africa regarding a popular Nigerian Scam. Please go to http://www.policeonthescene.com/, on the right hand side you will see what looks like a green MP3 player, click on episode 87 and it will play right in that window.

There is a way the "Bad Guys" are scamming us on gift cards, even before we purchase them. How are they doing that? Well, some stores elect to have their gift cards on racks or hooks where you just pull them off and have the cashier charge them up with an amount. In stores like that the "Bad Guys" are writing down serial numbers off of the cards on the rack and they can later retrieve a balance by using the store's customer service telephone number. And to make matters worse, they can use the gift card online just by having that serial number they copied earlier and a known balance provided by the store.

 Here is a scenario:

On Monday Bad Billy goes to a national department store chain we will call Alfred's. At Alfred's their gift cards are on display for purchase and Bad Billy copies down 12 serial numbers. Mr. and Mrs. Dons decide to purchase 4 gift cards for their nieces and nephews who live in another part of the country. The Dons' charge each card up with $50.00 value and stick the gift cards inside Christmas cards and send them off via the US Postal Service.

 On Tuesday Bad Billy calls Alfred's customer service telephone number and asks what the balance is on gift card A0012 and finds it to be $50.00. On Wednesday and the following days Bad Billy calls about one card each day. The bad news is, even before the Dons' nieces and nephews open their cards, Bad Billy has already gone to the Alfred's web site and redeemed the gift cards for things he wants. Bad Billy will often have those items shipped to a friend's house or even a house he knows that is vacant or even the Jone's house. Why the Jones house? well there is no one home during the day and he can drive by and get the boxes off the Jones deck before anyone gets home.

 Okay, so how to we protect ourselves against this type of scam? Easy really, purchase your gift card from a store that keeps their gift cards behind the register or customer service counter. If the store you want to purchase a card from only keeps them in the open, insist they get one out of the back storage room. But buyers beware, because Bad Billy's sister Bad Belinda might be an employee of that store and she may write down the serial numbers before selling them to you. It might be a good idea to check the store's policy on refunds or procedures on how they protect their gift cards.