Odd scam attempt?
Discussion
Here's an odd one.
My wife encountered a strabge one today, not sure if it was a scam attempt.
My wife answred the fornt door to be greeted by a scouse lad, who told her he had been sent down from Liverpool (We live in Milton Keynes)to help with a petition for Battersea Dogs Home. Apparently the gov are removing funding for the home.
He then rambled on, asking who owned the Porsche in the drive, how he had been talking to a bloke up the road with a husky, how he ised to own a jack russell, blah blah.
Anyway, he returned to the topic of the petition, all he needed was my wifes name and bank sort code to prove she was over 30!
At that point my wife told him no thanks and he literally ran off down the drive.
She called the 85 year old lady next door tonwarn her, but he hadn't called there, however, the guy with the 'husky' (it's not a husky, but a bit similar) lives past her house, whilst he ran off down the road the other way, ignoring our next door neighbours on the other side to us.
My wife said he had what looked like an official Battersea jacket and ID card with him.
I looked on the battersea website and it gives the postcodes and towns of all fundraising activities in the month and MK wasn't featured. Also the Gov doesn't fund the home, it's all done by private donations.
Can't work out what was the point of this charade. Any ideas?
My wife encountered a strabge one today, not sure if it was a scam attempt.
My wife answred the fornt door to be greeted by a scouse lad, who told her he had been sent down from Liverpool (We live in Milton Keynes)to help with a petition for Battersea Dogs Home. Apparently the gov are removing funding for the home.
He then rambled on, asking who owned the Porsche in the drive, how he had been talking to a bloke up the road with a husky, how he ised to own a jack russell, blah blah.
Anyway, he returned to the topic of the petition, all he needed was my wifes name and bank sort code to prove she was over 30!
At that point my wife told him no thanks and he literally ran off down the drive.
She called the 85 year old lady next door tonwarn her, but he hadn't called there, however, the guy with the 'husky' (it's not a husky, but a bit similar) lives past her house, whilst he ran off down the road the other way, ignoring our next door neighbours on the other side to us.
My wife said he had what looked like an official Battersea jacket and ID card with him.
I looked on the battersea website and it gives the postcodes and towns of all fundraising activities in the month and MK wasn't featured. Also the Gov doesn't fund the home, it's all done by private donations.
Can't work out what was the point of this charade. Any ideas?
My wife called Battersea Dogs home about this character.
BDH confirmed they had outsourced doorstep workers, but also conformed he was out of order trying to get a sneaky DD in place. ApparentlyBDH have a script that they are meant to adhere to and obviously was veering off it massively.
So I guess it was good and bad news rather than an out and out scammer. Still poor though.
I have just fitted a Ring doorbell so now I'm poor as well...
BDH confirmed they had outsourced doorstep workers, but also conformed he was out of order trying to get a sneaky DD in place. ApparentlyBDH have a script that they are meant to adhere to and obviously was veering off it massively.
So I guess it was good and bad news rather than an out and out scammer. Still poor though.
I have just fitted a Ring doorbell so now I'm poor as well...
Scabutz said:
If they are outsourcing workers then I doubt there are many checks in to who is doing this. If you are a scallywag its probably a good gig to get as you can go around legitimately scoping out houses and if any challenges you well you have ID and a branded hi-viz to prove what you are doing.
Agreed...alscar said:
Thought of this thread when last Friday a knock on the door at 8pm and 2 " collectors " from British Red Cross.
They were very polite but I did say to them that I didn't think it was that sensible collecting in a village for direct debits in the dark.
I contacted the BRC and received the following so I guess " they all do that ".
Thank you for contacting the British Red Cross.
We can confirm that we are currently fundraising door to door in the xxxx area through our agency partners Appco. Fundraisers should be carrying ID and will be wearing BRC-branded tabards and a combination of BRC-branded jackets and t-shirts, containing the phrasing ‘supporting British Red Cross’.
They will be seeking regular support through direct debit and will not at any time accept cash or ask for your credit card details.
Our fundraisers operate between the hours of 8:30 am and 9:00 pm, which are the industry standard hours. Although we appreciate that this may seem rather late, we have found that often people who would like to donate to our organisation are unavailable during the day because of work or other commitments. Allowing fundraisers to operate up until this time therefore has a direct impact on the success of the campaign.
Seems like that they all have a go at this method. I guess it must work, but in these days of the internet and scams, it must cause a bit of stress to the paranoid amongst us! They were very polite but I did say to them that I didn't think it was that sensible collecting in a village for direct debits in the dark.
I contacted the BRC and received the following so I guess " they all do that ".
Thank you for contacting the British Red Cross.
We can confirm that we are currently fundraising door to door in the xxxx area through our agency partners Appco. Fundraisers should be carrying ID and will be wearing BRC-branded tabards and a combination of BRC-branded jackets and t-shirts, containing the phrasing ‘supporting British Red Cross’.
They will be seeking regular support through direct debit and will not at any time accept cash or ask for your credit card details.
Our fundraisers operate between the hours of 8:30 am and 9:00 pm, which are the industry standard hours. Although we appreciate that this may seem rather late, we have found that often people who would like to donate to our organisation are unavailable during the day because of work or other commitments. Allowing fundraisers to operate up until this time therefore has a direct impact on the success of the campaign.
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