In tragic times, a few people inevitably will take advantage of an event in order to profit, as is the case in a rash of phone calls in the Kirkland and Waterman areas.

DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott said citizens in these areas are being targeted in a phone scam, in which the caller identifies himself as part of a special-interest group that wishes to raise funds for members of Kirkland’s fire department to go to New York to aid in the rescue operations.

“That’s totally not valid,” Scott said. “Obviously if the firefighters wanted to go to New York the state funds would be there. They wouldn’t need to raise money.”

Dallas Gibbons of the Kirkland Fire Department agrees.

“There’s plenty of funds,” he said. “They’d pay us if we wanted to go.”

Scott said his department has received three complaints. Two of those complaints were in Kirkland and one was located in Waterman. All calls were made last Wednesday night.

Scott added that his office has not received any reports of people who were taken advantage of by the scam.

“We really don’t have any victims,” he said.