Shoppers at this weekend’s Red Bank Sidewalk Sale have reported getting hit up for donations by a woman misrepresenting herself. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Officials are warning Red Bank shoppers and merchants not to fall for a pitch from a woman who claims to be soliciting funds for a local music foundation.
redbankgreen received this email late Friday afternoon from Doris Lazur, manager of the Jersey Shore Jazz & Blues Foundation:
It’s been brought to my attention by a couple of business owners in Red Bank and a few citizens that there is a woman going business-to-business collecting donations in the name of the Jersey Shore Jazz & Blues Foundation Youth Program.
This is a scam. The Jersey Shore Jazz & Blues Foundation is a non-profit 501C3. We do not nor have we ever gone business-to-business or door-to-door collecting donations.
I also just received a call from a shopper at the Red Bank Street fair today who said the same woman (same description) and a friend were outside of Jacks Music with canisters collecting. This woman is not only misrepresenting the Jazz & Blues Foundation, she is also stealing from good-hearted people.
I have notified the Red Bank Police…. but was hoping you could also get word out to your readers: Don’t give.
Lazur said she was told the woman is “a tall, middle aged African American woman. She may go by the name ‘Dutchess.'”
A request for comment from the police department was not immediately responded to. [Update: police Captain Darren McConnell said the department did respond to a report of soliciting but was unable to find the woman in question.]
