Public urged to beware of sham door-to-door collectors

People have to “be their own guardians” to make sure they are not swindled by fraudulent door-to-door fundraisers, according to Voluntary Organisations Commissioner, Kenneth Wain.

Id-Dar tal-Providenza and Puttinu Cares reported fraudsters raising money in their names on their behalf over the last two weeks and Prof. Wain urged the public to be doubly sure that whoever was collecting money had the appropriate documentation to prove his cause.

The commissioner was working on a code of practice for enrolled voluntary organisations to abide by for all kinds of collections. This should be out within the next month, he said.

“Obviously, once these guidelines are published they will be brought to the attention of the public and the organisations themselves and I hope this will, at least, contribute to regularising the whole matter,” Prof. Wain said when contacted.

Describing the fraudulent situation as “worrying”, he said, at the moment, the only way to solve the problem was through the cooperation of the public.

“A lot of people seem to collect door to door. It’s not a good thing and people seem to give without asking for any identification,” he said.

The law governing public collections requires anybody engaging in such activity to have a police licence unless they form part of an enrolled voluntary organisation.

However, it was not just organisations but even individuals who collected money door to door, he said. “They come with a paper from the parish priest and the doctor etc... ,” Prof. Wain said, pointing out all this was irregular and there needed to be a culture against it.

“I personally disagree with door to door fundraising. That shouldn’t be the way of doing it. But, at least, if they are going to collect money in this way they should have a police licence,” he insisted.