Cancer Charity Scam?

lizflight

"CITY charity" have just called me to find out where their fundraising money is for the teddy bear raffle.

Whilst on the phone I took the opportunity to quiz them again. I started by asking the girl who ran,g 'Susan', what CITY stood for, she clearly didn't know and in desperation had to pretend someone was knocking at the door whilst I could hear her flicking through papers on her desk to remind herself of her charities full name.

I then asked her how much they raise per annum and she told me over £20,000.00, so I then asked her why the literature they sent me said they raise under £5000.00, she couldnt answer me and so I asked her if they raise that much money what the charity registration number was, she then gave me the number 1124550 which I 'googled' whilst on the phone to her. This number is linked to a charity called Childrens Aid Foundation and when I told 'Susan' this she said CITY was linked to that charity.

Needless to say I immediately phoned the Childrens Aid Foundation who confirmed they have nothing to do with CITY (or had ever heard of CITY), I therefore gave them 'Susans' contact details and they said they would phone her immediately.

Bit DODGY; would anyone else agree?

Liz

WhiteHorse

PlutoinCapricorn wrote: »

... explains why they are entering an overcrowded field and evidence of impact.

The Charity Commission is also likely to refuse registration if it feels that the need is already fulfilled by existing organisations.

PlutoinCapricorn

The fact that a charity is registered is no guarantee that they are legitimate. There have been recent threads about such charities who were collecting outside Sainsburys: one paid themselves salaries from the money they collected but did not pass any on. This information came from the accounts that they had filed with the CC!

It is always best to check an unfamiliar charity out thoroughly before giving them anything.