St Johns Ambulance door to door collector lied to me?

Bob981

So about 2-2.5 hours ago some guy showed up at the door and tried to extract my bank account details from me several times without even asking if I want to donate.

His technique was to get me to admit that first aid is a good thing, and then he just started asking for name, phone number, bank account number, etc.

I asked if I could donate to them online without giving up all my personal information and he told me that to cut costs they collect bank account information at the door and that you can't donate to them unless you do it through him because otherwise it's too expensive, we they do it that way to cut costs

He also told me that the postman opens all of my mail and can see any important information anyway, so there is no reason to be concerned about giving him my personal information.

He then told me that if I didn't give him my details now, the charity wouldn't be getting a donation from me at all and would have to go without as there was no other way to donate. Of course I didn't give him anything.

RichardD1970

Probable wasn't an official St John Ambulance collector, just a scam artist trying it on.

They use a professional fundraiser, Wesser, for door to door.

http://www.sja.org.uk/sja/support-us/make-a-donation/door-to-door-fundraising/door-to-door-fundraising-faqs.aspx

To check if genuine

Security

How do I know that the person calling at the door is legitimate?

All of our fundraisers wear jackets, sweatshirts and T-shirts branded with the St John Ambulance logo so that they are easy to recognise. They also carry official identification cards, which are required by law.

If you would like to check a fundraiser’s details, please call the Supporter Hotline on 0207 324 4156 (local rate).

Bob981

He had a jacket with the logo and a badge. He also said I could call the police to confirm his identity if I wanted, which he said people sometimes do.

brightonman123

report to police, deffo. sounds like a scam. very heavy handed, too.


St Johns will need to know as well.

PlutoinCapricorn

Processing online donations with no third party involvement is cheap and easy for charities.

asajj

Shouldn't be difficult to get a t-shirt with identical badge anyway. I was told a similar thing by a caller about Macmillan too- they asked my details and i said whether i can do it online they said it is more expensive.

I didn't report but i should have perhaps - things got on the way.

I'd contact the charity and ask them as well as informing the police. Some people are vulnerable and might fall into this easily.

RichardD1970

Bob981 wrote: »

He had a jacket with the logo and a badge. He also said I could call the police to confirm his identity if I wanted, which he said people sometimes do.

So he didn't have an ID card and told you to contact the police to verify his identity, not the Supporter Hotline?

Anyone can get hold of a St John (notice St JOHN, not St Johns, just a little peeve of mine ) jacket and badge.

Definitely report.

PlutoinCapricorn

People who say that online donations cost the charity more just want to get the third party payments. If everyone donated direct, many door-to-door and face-to-face fundraising organisations would go out of business.

bluelass

I would have told him to get away from my property made a quick note of his height ethnicity etc then called 101. My word if you don't think that's a scam you need to get into the real world of course it was a aggressive conman.

MothballsWallet

RichardD1970 wrote: »

So he didn't have an ID card and told you to contact the police to verify his identity, not the Supporter Hotline?

Anyone can get hold of a St John (notice St JOHN, not St Johns, just a little peeve of mine ) jacket and badge.

Definitely report.

You could say the same about any charity's stuff, really, not just St John Ambulance.

bluelass

im all for a man in uniform. But not when its a conning !!!!.