Knock knock, who’s there?
Most of the time, when there’s a knock on the door, we expect it to be something exciting like a friend coming to pay you a surprise visit, or perhaps your Taobao delivery.
Sometimes though, it turns out to be something else. Like people preaching to you about their religion or volunteers asking you for donations.
While there’s nothing wrong with going door-to-door to raise awareness about a meaningful cause and hopefully collect donations for it, some people may sadly take advantage of your kindness to scam money out of you – just like these two youths.
Shady Charity
A good Samaritan Gabriel YW shared an encounter of his with two youths who allegedly scammed money from residents under the guise of collecting donations for charity on Facebook.
One fine morning, Gabriel opened his door to find two male youths who claimed they were 17-year-old students from Singapore Polytechnic.
They explained that they were collecting funds on behalf of SingYouth Hub, which is a non-profit organisation that advocates for youth development and social engagement.
Feeling like something was fishy, Gabriel probed the boys for more information upon seeing their charity receipts.
Hmm. However, they simply told him he could donate however much he wished.
Upon request of their donation permit, the youths apparently happily produced it, but it seemed to have discrepancies as well. The name on the permit had been erased and replaced with another name, and the dates were in a different font too.
One of the boys also claimed to be both the licensee and chief promoter, which FYI, doesn’t work that way.
According to Gabriel, he found the same permit online after a quick search, but the expiration date was 15 September 2019, which had already passed. The boys had allegedly altered it to 1 January 2020 on the permit that they produced.
Sneaky.
Despite the obvious red flags, the youths still tried to convince Gabriel of their legitimacy and offered to give a call to their team leader as well.
Yikes.
Busted
Gabriel then reprimanded the boys, telling them to stop whatever they were doing and to leave. They remained quiet when asked if what they were doing was right, and reminded them that they may get into trouble too. Guiltyyy.
SingYouth Hub also confirmed in a call with Gabriel that their fundraising program was long over, having finished in September, and that they also didn’t have any donation collections taking place on that day.
He has also informed the police about the incident.
Here are some tips provided by Gabriel on how to ward yourself against possible scams:
1) Check the details of the event.
2) Ask for their original collection permit, which cannot be tampered with.
3) Ask them to identify themselves.
4) Any receipts should indicate the organisation/s on them.
ScamAlert also provides information on protecting yourself against scams, and you can also call the anti-scam helpline at 1800-722-6688 if you need help.
Sigh, there are actually many other legal ways to make money without exploiting the goodness of others’ hearts, so I hope the youths have learnt their lesson.
Be careful when fundraisers come knocking on your door, for some of them may ironically have twisted morals and other intentions!
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