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Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute

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Bogus Helmet Offer not from BHSI--it is a fraud!


Summary: Someone is reportedly calling police departments saying he is from BHSI and offering free helmets. Whoever that person is, they have nothing at all to do with BHSI. We do not offer free helmets, and have never called anyone offering free helmets.


We received this email from a police department on October 19, 2010:

"I am a Crime Prevention officer. I received a telephone call from an international number from a man claiming to represent your organization. When I inquired about his location, he stated he was in Canada. He offered free bicycle helmets for children and wanted an e-mail address. Perhaps out of an abundance of caution I asked him to leave a message on my Sergeant's voicemail. On looking at your website it is possible he was truly a representative of your organization, but I was curious because his voice was heavily accented, and seemed to be of Eastern Indian origin. If this was a valid offer we would be interested in speaking with someone about it, but I wanted to be certain this was a true representative of your company. Could you possibly advise? Thanks in advance."

If the called said he was from BHSI, this offer was bogus. We do not know what their purpose is, but the caller was not from BHSI or associated with BHSI in any way. We do not and never have offered free helmets--there just is no funding for that.

If you received a call like that, please let us know.