GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — A woman falling for an apparent scam in Ashwaubenon is putting the spotlight on door-to-door scammers.
Courtney Danielski of Ashwaubenon says she received a knock at her door on April 13th from a teenager, and it was captured on her doorbell camera. He said he was from Green Bay Southwest High School, raising money for the St. John’s homeless shelter.
“It looked legit,” Danielski told WTAQ. “He had a paper full of names of people who had signed saying they donated, so I agreed to give him money.”
She wound up giving the teen ten dollars, but when she called the high school, she learned there was no such fundraiser.
“It’s frustrating, because I’m really a kind person,” said Danielski. “Maybe I shouldn’t be.”
Danielski says she eventually got in conduct with the School Resource Officer at Southwest High School, who reportedly confirmed that the teen was indeed a student at Southwest, but was questioned by the SRO and found with a sum of money collected from door-to-door solicitation during the student’s lunch break. Danielski says she was told the student was suspended.
That teen even reportedly reached out to Danielski on social media the next day to apologize.
“He apologized, said ‘I’m so sorry, I never should have done this,’ but then kept going back to ‘I am going to donate it, I had no intentions of keeping it’,” Danielski says.
She added that she found that hard to believe.
Danielski isn’t the only one to have video camera footage of the teen. Ring camera footage from another home, dated April 7th, was sent to WTAQ, showing the teen ringing doors in the neighborhood accompanied by a teenage girl.
An April 7th security camera shot from a home near Green Bay Southwest High School showing the same teenager accompanied by a teen girl.(Submission)
Green Bay Police declined to comment on the specifics of the case, citing an ongoing investigation, but did say that when dealing with people going door-to-door, if it seems suspicious, it probably is.
“People know that our area is particularly giving and willing to help out” said Police Captain Ben Allen. “So we get targeted for that on occasion.”
Captain Allen says they get reports like this around this time every year as the weather improves. He adds that those selling door-to-door are required to have a permit from the city in order to operate, and must present that permit when asked.
Danielski says she was able to get her money back from the school after the student was found and the collected money was confiscated by the school’s resource officer.
Because no charges have been filed and the case involves juveniles, WTAQ has opted to censor the faces of those involved.
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