DTI warns small businesses of 'charity publishing' scams
Howard Lake | 27 January 2006 | News
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) investigators have published guidelines to educate businesses about cold-calling ‘publishing’ scams that allegedly claim to raise funds for charity.
The scam is far from new but it is still attempted so the DTI is reminding businesses of the problem.
The fake publishers call businesses around the UK asking for donations or to place adverts in charity booklets, wall charts, crime prevention yearbooks, emergency personnel magazines, children’s hospital ‘activity’ books, drug awareness or “youth action” books. Any money given does not end up with a charity.
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Some of the scams involve aggressive debt collection methods, with the worst examples including smearing victims’ names as paedophiles on the Internet, kidnap threats and physical intimidation, according to the DTI.
DTI investigators have successfully wound up companies involved such as Cavendish Black and McAllister Stone, but others are still active.
Roy and Amanda Harris, who run a family business in Hereford, have received charity publishing scam calls since 2004. “We were at our wits end. On one day alone we received 18 calls – these companies will not take no for an answer,” said Mr and Mrs Harris.
Scam artists will often try and catch businesses unawares in a telephone call and get business staff to agree with them, sometimes unwittingly signing you up to a campaign. A standard question is: “do you agree that children need better drugs education?”
If a suspicious call is received, the DTI advises people to contact their local Trading Standards department, Citizen’s Advice Bureau or Police station for advice.
Gerry Sutcliffe, Fair Markets Minister, said: “The actions of these people are truly reprehensible. Our investigators won’t hesitate to shut them down.
“Our advice to all businesses is: please don’t hesitate to support charities but do think twice before parting with money without checking credentials first.”
Andrew Hind, Chief Executive of the Charity Commission, added: “It’s easy to check if a charity’s genuine or not – check our online register of charities at www.charity-commission.co.uk.”
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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.