Local businesses in Whitefish are reportedly losing money to scammers claiming to be affiliated with Whitefish High School and selling ad space on a fictional sports poster.

The scammers have been traced to Nebraska and Texas and claim to be sporting goods or service businesses that have partnered with the high school.

Between 10 and 12 businesses have lost money as a result of the scam phone calls soliciting credit card information, according to Whitefish High School activities director Aric Harris.

“The thing that’s really disturbing is it ultimately ends up hurting our fundraising efforts,” Harris said Thursday.

According to Harris, several business that have supported the school’s sports programs in the past are now hesitant to continue and question the legitimacy of donation requests.

Harris emphasized that all real business with the school is done in person through a booster club representative. The school does not contract out any business and do not solicit credit cards over the phone.

Harris said the incident was reported to the Whitefish Police Department and the activity is being monitored.