Swindlers using school cons

A man claiming to represent Mead High School swindled a north Spokane business into making a donation to a sports publication fund-raising campaign that didn’t exist, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office reported.

The fraud is the second report in a month of a person stealing from businesses by pretending to help area high schools.

The Mead High School swindler approached a Steer Inn employee on Aug. 29 and asked for a donation for the school’s sports flyer. The employee gave the man $100 after the man filled out an invoice with the school’s logo, sheriff’s spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan said in a press release Tuesday.

The school is not raising money for a sports flyer and the invoice was fake, Reagan said. The man apparently copied the school’s logo from its Web site.

Within the last few weeks, the sheriff’s office has received reports of a similar fraud in which a woman pretended to represent Central Valley High School. She stole several hundred dollars before police were notified.

Reagan said citizens approached for money should contact the school that the fund-raiser claims to represent to verify that the request is legitimate.