A Colquitt County domestic violence shelter is warning that people collecting money, purportedly to aid victims of abuse, are running a scam.

No employees from Serenity House have been soliciting money at local businesses, and that is not a method that the shelter uses to seek monetary support, said Michelle Law, case manager for the entity.

Serenity House has received reports of people asking for money on four occasions that they claimed was to be used to support a domestic abuse shelter.

Two of those were at a business on Veterans Parkway South, and one instance each at convenience stores on Veterans Parkway North and South Main Street, Law said.

“It’s been happening at a few different places,” she said. “(They’re) saying they are from a battered women’s shelter. This happened on several different occasions.”

The shelter asks that anyone who encounters someone soliciting money and claiming to represent a domestic abuse shelter call law enforcement. Law enforcement agencies have been notified of the reports of the potential scam.

“Anybody who works at the shelter here has a name tag,” Law said. “We have the proper identification to prove that we are (employees).”

Those wishing to donate money to the shelter can mail checks to Serenity House, P.O. Box 14, Moultrie GA, 31776. Clothing donations can be dropped off at the Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office on Veterans Parkway. For additional information, contact Serenity House at (229) 782-5394.

Serenity House began operation in 2002 as Colquitt County’s domestic abuse shelter. It now also operates a transitional living facility to allow women and their children to build stable lives after leaving an abusive environment.