Beware bogus charity collectors

We received an email at Scam Detectives HQ this morning from a charity worker who had been approached over the phone by a man claiming to have access to several hundred wealthy benefactors wanting to donate to their charity.

Rather than pass on the details of the charity to enable these philanthropists to donate directly, the man offered to collect donations on behalf of the charity himself. In order to facilitate this, he asked for a stock of blank receipts to issue to the donors in return for their cash.

Our advice to charities approached in this way is this:

Only issue receipts for confirmed donations. If someone wants to collect on your behalf they should provide you with an itemised list of donations with the name and address of each benefactor detailed so that your accounts office can issue a receipt directly

We strongly advise caution in giving to charity if approached by door-to-door collectors, by email or over the telephone. If you want to support a charity you will be able to do so by donating directly by credit/debit card, over the counter at your bank or at a charity shop, or by direct debit.

You can contact your chosen charity by visiting their official website and you can verify that your chosen charity is genuine by searching the
Charity Commission website

Tags: charity scam