Police Officers Support Association

So... I've lately been getting calls from a caller who identifies himself as Steven Michael from the "Police Officers Support Association". Though they're intercepted by my computer and I usually don't get to hear more than a few seconds of the call, I think it's a live person reading from a script rather than a recording (though I'm not certain).

So far they've called from these numbers:

• (516) 206-3928
• (619) 439-0065
• (631) 228-7183
• (407) 315-3693

All with spoofed Caller ID, helpfully tagged with scam or spam by my phone provider.

Here's what I've been able to dig up so far:

• Police Officers Support Association
• http://www.policeofficerssupportassociation.org (166.62.110.232 - Godaddy.com)
• Domain registration info hidden by Domains by Proxy
• Web site 176 days old as of Jan 11, 2019

Postal address on web site:

• The Police Officers Support Association
• 1549 Ringling Blvd, 6th Floor
• Sarasota, FL 34236
• 800-758-9503

Interestingly, Google Maps shows "International Union of Police Associations" at that address.

International Union of Police Associations

• Web site: iupa.org (104.28.31.104) - masked by Cloudflare
• Crimeflare.cc shows its real IP address as 162.243.213.232 (digitalocean.com)
• Domain registration info hidden by Domains by Proxy, but domain is 22 years old.
• Phone: 941-487-2560 or 800-247-4872
• It appears to be a real 501(C)(5) organization with an EIN: 54-2040811
• On their IRS Form 990 they describe the organization as "Labor Union", so donations are not tax deductible and it isn't rated by Charity Navigator or other charity rating groups
• Principal Officer: Samuel A Cabral

BBB Rating D-

• https://www.bbb.org/us/fl/sarasota/profile/so ... s-0653-90042832
• Most complaints appear to be about phone spam. Go figure.

But think about that rating for a moment: How bad does an organization have to be to get a "D-" from the BBB? Wow!

I should emphasize that at the moment the only connection between "Police Officers Support Association" and "International Union of Police Associations" is that the former claims the same address as the latter on their web site. And anyone can put anything they like on their web site. It's possible, I suppose, that "International Union of Police Associations" isn't even aware of the existence of "Police Officers Support Association". It's also possible that they're one and the same entity and "Police Officers Support Association" is just a cover for the real organization for "plausible deniability" or other purposes.

Research continues...

The phone number on the Police Officers Support Association web site, 800-758-9503, also shows up on the sites of The National Emergency Responders Coalition (http://nationalemergencyresponderscoalition.org), Law Enforcement for a Safer America (http://leoforasaferamerica.org) and National Coalition for Police & Troopers (http://nationalcoalitionforpoliceandtroopers.org)

And those web sites all give the same Sarasota postal address as the Police Officers Support Association web site.

A D- from BBB?  Wow.  What did they do, fry some planet with a Death Star?  The Manson Cult probably got a C+.
Thanks for the info!

All of this is really wonderful.  Would you be able to do the same investigation/research with the infamous "WCF" ("Women's Cancer Fund" or "Women's Cancer Foundation") which is inundating us with calls from various numbers, as well, including 339-209-2441 (today), 781-217-3837 (1-9-19) and 614-502-5147 in early December '018.  They've also called under this MO and multiple numbers in 2018 and 2017.  No one seems to be making them go away. Wonder if these two entities are connected......  Thanks So Much!

Hey even Hamas got an accredited A+ from the BBB! :)

So.... about that address of 1549 Ringling Blvd, 6th Floor, Sarasota, FL 34236...

Bizpedia.com (https://www.bizapedia.com/addresses/1549-ring ... a-fl-34236.html) says there 8 (eight) businesses associated with that address:

• Law Enforcement Officers Relief Fund Inc (Georgia)
• Law Enforcement Officers Relief Fund Inc (Florida)
• Police And Troopers Relief Foundation
• National Police Trooper Association
• Florida Police Officers Foundation
• National Patrolmens Foundation
• IU Infrastructure LLC (INT. UNION OF POLICE ASSOCIATIONS, AFL-CIO )
• Psl Poa 6015 Intl Union Of Police Association Inc.

Notice that list doesn't include the National Emergency Responders Coalition, Law Enforcement for a Safer America or National Coalition for Police & Troopers, all of whom list the 800-758-9503 phone number on their sites.

The National Patrolmens Foundation got a pretty negative review on Bizpedia: https://www.bizapedia.com/fl/national-patrolmens-foundation.html

And as of 6:30 eastern time today THIS THREAD is already the #2 response on Bing.com for the search term "Police Officers Support Association". (I expect they just did an update and Google will catch up shortly.)

So, once Google catches up, how long do you think it will be until the shills for these "charities" start making their defensive posts about how "upstanding" and "legitimate" they are?

I deal with most "charity" calls by telling them I never donate to an organization that cold-calls me and that all my charitable giving is arranged at the start of the year and done through a payroll deduction plan with my employer (both points are true).  One time I dealt with a very persistent "police charity" caller by spinning the yarn that I would never give money to any police related organization because I had been framed by an unscrupulous cop and was now a convicted felon.  Those calls stopped and I did not hear from any other "police charity" for many months.  (I have no ethical qualms about lying to liars.)

This one, at least on the web, doesn't even pretend to be a charity. They state outright that contributions are not tax deductible — that's because they're a 501(c)(5) rather than a 501(c)(3). Some of their affiliated web sites seem to suggest they're a Political Action Committee (PAC), while the mothership web site, iupa.org, identifies itself (at least in their Form 990) as a "labor union". I'm betting their telespammers avoid mentioning any of this but I wonder how much they'd admit to if pushed. A lifespan of 22 years for their main operation would suggest they keep their nose clean as much as possible.

If you look at the building at that address on Google maps, on the side facing Ringling Blvd there is a large "I. U. P. A." sign with an ugly logo for the International Union of Police Associations (which has a AFL-CIO logo stuck right in the center) with a motto of "The Voice of Law Enforcement Officers".  So, I guess they are real, and with the AFL-CIO affiliation and that motto, that would tend to put them in the "labor union" category.  The other associations, foundations and funds listed there may represent other groups in the region represented by the AFL-CIO, or they may just be used for marketing donations from different target groups.

It is very possible (personally I think very likely) that the four groups you list that are NOT on the Bizapedia list for that address are more than likely scammers using that address to mislead people.  I doubt that there are more than a just a few legitimate companies that do searches on their addresses to see if any other websites are using them (although nowadays that would probably be a good practice for most.)

International Union of Police Associations (IUPA) and Law Enforcement Officers Relief Fund (LEORF) and all associated D/B/A names are registered Charities (states that require registration) that include the use of undisclosed telefunders (also should be registered) calling on their behalf.
Consumers are allowed under TCPA laws to tell the telefunder DO-NOT-CALL and file DO-NOT-CALL complaints against both the telefunder and Charity. While it may be true that the telefunder does not have to access state and national DO-NOT-CALL registries prior to calling. They do have to acknowledge and comply with all DO-NOT-CALL DEMANDS without the claim (excuse) of being a charity.
Sadly, under their (IUPA) last filing there are $19.4 million worth of uninformed consumer dollars with a fundraising expense of 78%. Ref: 800helpfla dot com / check a charity
Florida shows: Solicitors
Group Consultants, Inc. -- Kennesaw, Ga
Midwest Publishing-Dn, Inc. -- Phoenix, Az
Outreach Calling -- Reno, Nv
Residential Programs, Inc. -- Eatontown, Nj
The FEC and some states also require Committee / PAC registration and any disclosed website associated with an unregistered PAC should be considered fraudulent.

"fundraising expense of 78%". Wow. That's wasting a lot of the money donated. Yet somehow I'm not surprised.

You should have did  asearch for each number you had,  Must people will search for a number, no ta thread.  Also this is not something.  I started getting calls for this call of donations last year (during Summer).

Also google the list of the 50 worst charities in the U.S. I know one of the other Police Associations was on there

If you're the business principals, the 78% is not "wasted"...it's a retirement plan.  They're still scum-bags, though.

Nimrod, my hunch — and it is only a hunch at this point — is that all the listed "organizations" are really the International Union of Police Associations. My thinking is that their cold calling techniques are what got them their D- rating from the BBB so they now call under different names to protect the mothership. It's likely that those who donate by credit card (and I'll bet the callers insist on that rather than a check) see "International Union of Police Associations" (or perhaps some innocuous-looking entity) on their credit card statements.

This would be a way for the official organization to insulate itself from the negative effects of their phone campaigns.

(BTW: This thread has now made the first page of Google results for the search term "Police Officers Support Association" — only 8th at the moment but it'll probably rise.)