Jan 30, 2016
Call the number back using *67 to block your caller ID. Supposedly with the Maryland Fraternal Order of Police. An interactive answering machine answers the phone (Steve Durham) thanking you for calling back. Sounds believable, but ask him his shoe size, etc... and you realize you are talking to a machine. Ask to speak to a supervisor and you'll get through to an "operator" in Ohio or NJ, who claim to be with the Maryland FOP. Press them on it and they will finally admit that they are just operators working for a fund raising company (Residential Programs, Inc.) out of Eatontown, New Jersey. The whole deal is a scam! Caller ID never notes FOP, they use a couple different numbers; the interactive answering machine; the false representation; etc... The biggest scam of all is there take on the money they raise. After 5 years, listening to Steve Durham, I finally got "fed up" enough to turn the tables and did a search on who at MFOP authorized this. If you call the various lodges, no one knows that this "fund raising" is going on. I finally found out that orders were coming from the comptroller of Maryland FOP. I was very polite in talking with guy, and thought that I was informing him of misrepresentation, abuse, etc... He could be more indignant. He really didn't care what was going on, saying only to give him my number and he'd make sure I didn't receive any more calls. Worked for a year, now they are back! ... and by the way, after I gave him my number, the calls for MFOP stop, but the calls from other phony caller ID sources increased 3 fold.
I am trying to find the Comptroller's name and number to post so everyone can call and give him a taste of what its like to get bothered. If I can't find the number and someone wants to go through the effort- after getting "Fed Up" enough, just call MFOP and ask for the main Comptroller for the State FOP, and file your complaint... not that it will help, but maybe if enough people call he'll know what it feels like.