Public urged to beware of sham door-to-door collectors
Beware of people knocking on your door claiming to raise funds for NGOs.
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.
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S.Dalli
Apr 7th 2011, 12:47
I don't like when I hear the door bell and see the door-to-door collectors. I always tell them "no thank you" and feel bad after. But I am only protecting myself. Anyone can say they are whoever they are on the intercom, only to discover its a thief trying to break into your house. (I know it sounds exaggerated, but who can tell?) Has it ever occurred to anyone that house thieves seem to know where the valuable objects are? When you give money to the phony door-to-door collectors, do you show them where you keep your purse? or your pension? Food for thought guys come on!
I'm sorry that for the real collectors this puts them in a bad light, but I would find another way to raise money, people don't like to be stopped in the street or obliged to open their door to strangers.
DVella
Apr 7th 2011, 12:03
These door to door beggars should be obliged to have a permit from the Police Authorities AND an identity tag indicating who they are and what they are representing.
Ramon Casha
Apr 7th 2011, 10:55
One thing that needs to be done is for all charities which do door-to-door collections to find methods of ensuring that it's more difficult for someone to pose as their own collectors. For instance, posting a message in all doors a week before the collections, while telling people that all collections will be preceded by such a notice.
As things stand now, it's easy for anyone to knock on a door and say "Hello qed niġbru l-flus għal Dar il-Waħx... tagħtina xi ħaġa?"