Charity Commission warns of bogus collections for tsunami victims
Howard Lake | 6 January 2005 | News
The Charity Commission is warning that misleading leaflets claiming to collect for the Tsunami earthquake victims are being distributed by clothing collectors asking for clothing and cash.
According to the Commission, areas so far targeted include London, Lincolnshire, East Anglia, Leicestershire and Essex but previous similar scams show that other areas tend to follow.
The Commission is therefore advising people to be extremely cautious about donating to such misleading appeals. Many of these collections are not registered charities, although they often give fictitious or limited company numbers, says the Commission, so there is no guarantee at all that donations will reach victims of the earthquake.
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The Charity Commission’s Chief Executive, Andrew Hind said: “It’s incomprehensible that some people want to take from survivors of a disaster left with absolutely nothing. I’d urge the generous public to take their clothes to a genuine charity shop and to make their cash donations to an established appeal fund such as the Disasters Emergency Committee.
“Help the victims – don’t let bogus collectors help themselves.”
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.