Businesses in Fountain Hills are still receiving fraudulent attempts to collect donations callers claim are for the Fountain Hills High School Athletic Department.

Last November a handful of businesses received a letter from the generic “Sports Media” company that claimed the business was late in getting its donation to the school.

Now businesses, like Senior Taco, are receiving phone calls along with letters demanding their donations.

“I got a call where they said, ‘Hi, we are calling from the Fountain Hills High School and we are reorganizing the calendar for the upcoming year and we want to make sure you’re on it.’ I said, ‘Of course, anything for the school,’ and then they hung up,” Juan Gonzales of Senior Taco said. “Then I got a bill, but I noticed ‘Sports Media’ and Las Vegas. So I called the high school and they didn’t know what I was talking about.”

After that, Gonzales tried to contact the number that was on the fake bill but did not receive an answer and was able to leave a message.

Gonzales eventually received another call from the scammers looking for money. When Gonzales confronted them about lying about being with the school, they hung up immediately.

Gonzales and other businesses have informed FHHS about these scams and the high school has filed reports with the police department.

Athletic Director, Willie Dudley, encourages any business in town that receives a request for a donation to the school contact him so he can verify it is not a scam.

“We would never, ever hound anybody to pay,” Dudley said. “We would always put our names on request, too. That would be the thing to look for, if there are names and phone numbers specific to the school or the Fountain Hills Booster Club.”

To contact Dudley, call 480-664-5539 or email wdudley@fhacademics.org.