Katherine house charity asking for card details at the door.

[King Herald]

Had a guy come to our door a few days ago, tells me he is charity collecting, for Katherine House, a local cancer hospice.

He tells me they run a lottery every week, for £1 entry, shows me his ID, shows me an information sheet. I agree, I could do it....but can I have a leaflet.

He only has one, and he wants me to tell him my sort code, and the last four numbers on my debit cards account number.

I told sorry, but he needs to be a bit more convincing than that, asking bank account details and writing them down himself on his one remaining leaflet/application form.

Scam, or genuine? Opinions?

[anonymous-user]

Sounds scammier than a very scammy thing to me.

I would ring the charity and let them know.

[Benmac]

It's a fairly common tactic for hospices to run lottery type schemes like that. I know of a couple that do it. I used to do one where we used to live. The top prizes were typically £1k with the occasional £5k; then lesser prizes down to about £25.

I won £50 or so a couple of times and just redonated it which seemed the decent thing to do.

The situation you describe though sounds a bit iffy. The one I used to do they recruited people by door knocking but they'd leave you with the details on a leaflet to fill in and post to the hospice.

[Europa1]

Sounds iffy to me.

If they appear again, ask them who at the hospice is responsible for PCI-DSS compliance, and a copy of their current Attestation of Compliance.

[Your Dad]

Europa1 said:

Sounds iffy to me.

If they appear again, ask them who at the hospice is responsible for PCI-DSS compliance, and a copy of their current Attestation of Compliance.

Pretty sure v3.2 of the standard doesn't apply to sort code and account numbers.

[Tuvra]

I had the Red Cross knock my door back last year, came at me by asking loads of questions to which I fully answered basically stating I fully support them, he then asked for money so I said "Sure", looked in my wallet and I had £50, I said "Can I donate £50" he basically told me no and then started pressuring me to give my bank details for them to set up a Direct Debit. I told him there was no way I was doing that on the door step to which he responded "Well thank's for wasting my time", I went nuclear and absolutely roasted him, I may have referred to him as a "scruffy hippy looking bd"

[trickywoo]

Getting you to sign up to a DD is now a very, very common charity tactic.

I had the air ambulance come round a while ago and was more than happy to give them a £10 note I had on me at the time but they declined and asked for bank details. Not happening for me and I'll continue to put money in the can when I see one.

[Tuvra]

trickywoo said:

Getting you to sign up to a DD is now a very, very common charity tactic.

I had the air ambulance come round a while ago and was more than happy to give them a £10 note I had on me at the time but they declined and asked for bank details. Not happening for me and I'll continue to put money in the can when I see one.

Yeah, it made me feel really uncomfortable to be honest, there was no way I'd sign up on the door step.

Seems very odd that they happily turn away cash though. I believe they work on commission so maybe they wouldn't get commission on cash? Would probably create a bit of paper work for them too.

[LeoSayer]

With cash being used less and less I can only see this approach increasing.

[Your Dad]

Tuvra said:

I believe they work on commission so maybe they wouldn't get commission on cash?

Between £25-£100 for each signup and then a lesser amount for each year the supporter (they're not called donors) continues with the direct debit. It's one of the most lucrative ways a charity can generate revenue these days, typical supporters continue giving money to the charity for at least 3 years.

[easytiger123]

Your Dad said:

Between £25-£100 for each signup and then a lesser amount for each year the supporter (they're not called donors) continues with the direct debit. It's one of the most lucrative ways a charity can generate revenue these days, typical supporters continue giving money to the charity forget to cancel their direct debit for at least 3 years.

[Your Dad]

easytiger123 said:

Your Dad said:

Between £25-£100 for each signup and then a lesser amount for each year the supporter (they're not called donors) continues with the direct debit. It's one of the most lucrative ways a charity can generate revenue these days, typical supporters continue giving money to the charity forget to cancel their direct debit for at least 3 years.

[The Moose]

I wonder if they're not allowed to accept cash for accusations of theft?

[King Herald]

Your Dad said:

Tuvra said:

I believe they work on commission so maybe they wouldn't get commission on cash?

Between £25-£100 for each signup and then a lesser amount for each year the supporter (they're not called donors) continues with the direct debit. It's one of the most lucrative ways a charity can generate revenue these days, typical supporters continue giving money to the charity for at least 3 years.

I was persuaded to support RSPCA a decade or so ago, by a girl who came to the door. She had all the papers and stuff, so I signed up for a sum every month.

Later, several months later, (yes, I know) I read the papers and learned she was getting 30% of everything I was paying. RSPCA did agree to change the debit so they got all the money I was paying.

Nowadays I rarely give to charities.

[charliegib]

Hi, King Herald I work for Katharine House and have reported your posting to my superiors this morning.
I have been contacted today (whilst at work) by our fund raising manager who is most concerned by this information regarding Katharine House Hospice. I would be greatful if you could contact Katharine House Hospice at Stafford and speak to our fund raising manager as a matter of urgency. I do not know if you can contact me so I can give you his details.
Thank you Charliegib

[anonymous-user]

These sort of tactics plus limpet like chuggers annoying you on the high street have turned me off charities, anyone employing these tactics get nothing from me.

The big charities are now only charities in name, they have becomes businesses with too many tax breaks and think they are more important than anything else.

[King Herald]

charliegib said:

Hi, King Herald I work for Katharine House and have reported your posting to my superiors this morning.
I have been contacted today (whilst at work) by our fund raising manager who is most concerned by this information regarding Katharine House Hospice. I would be greatful if you could contact Katharine House Hospice at Stafford and speak to our fund raising manager as a matter of urgency. I do not know if you can contact me so I can give you his details.
Thank you Charliegib

I don't really have any solid details to give actually. The guy was a youngish, white, tidy, English accent, had an ID badge on, the name of which I can't remember.

He had a laminated sheet with details of the the lottery, told me he had but one leaflet left as 11 other people had signed up already.

He actually expected me to hand over sort code and last four digits of my bank, to a guy who knocked on the door. But was polite enough when I declined.

I can pop up to Katherine House tomorrow if you want, or do you have enough info here?

[charliegib]

Thank you King Herald, if you could pop into Katharine House head quarters at priestly court I would apreciate it, just ask for our fund raising manager.
Thank you once again
Best regards charliegib.

[CoolHands]

They're all shysters

[King Herald]

charliegib said:

Thank you King Herald, if you could pop into Katharine House head quarters at priestly court I would apreciate it, just ask for our fund raising manager.
Thank you once again
Best regards charliegib.

I went up today, fund raising manager wasn't there, but I spoke to a young lady who said she would inquire as to whether Katherine House was doing collections round my way last Monday. She phoned me later to confirm they were, but she was also somewhat confused that the guy had just one leaflet, and also said he just needed the last four digits and my sort code.