Malverne, South Farmingdale fire departments warn of potential T-shirt drive scam

A text posted on the Malverne Fire Department's Facebook page shows a message asking residents to buy a Malverne Fire Department T-shirt for $10 off.

News 12 Staff

Aug 4, 2022, 2:57 AM

Updated 863 days ago

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Two Long Island fire departments are urging people not to respond to a text message asking them to buy T-shirts.
A text posted on the Malverne Fire Department's Facebook page shows a message asking residents to buy a Malverne Fire Department T-shirt for $10 off.
The department, however, says they are not part of any T-shirt drive.
The South Farmingdale Fire Department say they are also being targeted in the same T-shirt scam, which has happened to them before.
"We got out right in front of this right away within probably 12 to 14 hours after the text messages started to hit our firefighters and EMS personnel," says Don Mormino, of the South Farmingdale Fire Department.
He says that community members were also targeted this time.
Mormino says the scam also includes a fake website, and clicking on any link can put yourself and others in danger.
"Anytime you click on a link that you're unaware of, you don't know what you're getting into," Mormino says. "Whether you're going to receive a virus or that virus is going to corrupt your phone book or your contact list and then start sending this message to all of your contacts."
Residents say it's shameless to target the local first responders.
"...I hope that they find out who's doing it because it's close to home," says Shannon Hannah.
Mormino says it's likely that another scam will come around again.