Police are investigating citizen reports that a man claiming to represent the Suffolk Police Department has been calling area businesses saying he is raising funds to buy books for local schoolchildren.

Officers on Monday responded to a business where an employee received such a call from a man who said his name was Ben White.

The employee’s boss said she received a similar call at the beginning of January, in which the man said his name was Bob. The woman called police dispatch and inquired if the department was running any such programs, according to city spokeswoman Diana Klink. She was informed it was not.

After the woman called the subject back, he told her that the department would not be aware of the project because he was with the auxiliary police, Klink said.

The case currently is being investigated, Klink added. The woman provided the officer with the phone numbers where the call originated.