To the kid asking everyone in the Picturehouse for sponsorship money

[cantthinkofaname]

Dear young Irish lad approaching everyone in the ED Picturehouse and Oddonis:

Congratulations on your confidence. You have no fear and a strong sales pitch.

But maybe try some politeness next time. Snapping ?give me your name?, then demanding ?how much?? whilst beckoning with your hand is plain rude. Additionally, when perturbed but polite diners offer you the money in their pockets, don?t roll your eyes and say ?better than nothing I suppose?.

Confidence is one thing, insolence is another.

Good luck on your sponsored run, or whatever it was...

[alice]

What a weird post.

I take it you were there and he was there

[Angelina]

when I was at school and we did sponsored walks etc we'd have to get the completion form signed before we could collect the money.

[Sue]

Sounds like a scam to me.

[mrs.lotte]

It is a scam. He was doing the same on Northcross Rd a few weeks ago telling each business how all the others were giving him money when I'd just seen them refusing. I asked him what school it was for and he said it was for his brother at St. Dunstan's and I later saw him with older boy who was not school age. Frankly it's theft (Well obtaining property by deception but basically the same). Not the crime of the century but if I see him again I'll tell him I'm calling the police having seen a number of elderly ladies hand over cash to him.

[cella]

Shouldn't the Picturehouse people be dealing with it?

[Angelina]

yes, they should, but so should the anyone in the community who has witnessed it.

[JohnL]

I'd have found the guy funny - reply would be be the usual "I pay everything by card" though

[cella]

Angelina Wrote:

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> yes, they should, but so should the anyone in the

> community who has witnessed it.

Sure - just wondered why the staff didn't step in earlier. Also, depending on the age - the op said young lad - parents involved too.

[holloway]

This scam used to go on all of the time in pubs, haven't seen it for ages. The parents' would usually send them in.

[cella]

That's depressing.

[alice]

Didn?t everyone used to do a variation of this carol singing, guying, selling laurel leaves - not new, not a sign of moral breakdown of society.

[Angelina]

While there are people to take advantage of, people will take advantage of them - which is fine, unless they are vulnerable. Scamming old people is particularly nasty and we should look out for such to make sure they are not tricked into giving their money away.

Of course, it's their money and their choice, but for everyone who has elderly relatives, then you'll know how protective you are and how scary it is that they are so trusting......

[Sue]

holloway Wrote:

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> This scam used to go on all of the time in pubs,

Yes, and people who you would have thought wouldn't be taken in were, even when you (i.e. I) pointed out that it was an obvious scam.

I agree that the people in the businesses concerned should have dealt with it, but maybe they weren't aware.

The scammers tend to choose busy times.

[Sue]

alice Wrote:

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> Didn?t everyone used to do a variation of this

> carol singing, guying, selling laurel leaves - not

> new, not a sign of moral breakdown of society.

Carol singing and guising are not taking money under false pretences aka lying.

No idea what selling laurel leaves is all about!

[LPrince]

Evening all - can confirm this is a scam. I recently moved away from East Dulwich to Forest Hill and this kid has been collecting ?sponsorship? for months and months in the area (including from me with the same rudeness). Always a run, always a scruffy looking piece of paper and apparently collecting for NSPCC when challenged. The SE23 forum has a whole feed about this and it?s been reported to our local police officer via the forum. Seems he has now decided to try his luck in East Dulwich.

[bcam]

So, we got scammed by a 12-ish y/o red haired kid with a blue jacket and London accent last weekend outside the EDT. Very convincing spiel. Piece of paper with his schools logo on it, and collecting for "abused kids". Supposedly a 5k run on Saturday in Dulwich Park.

This evening, the same little sh*t walking up the street with his clan ran across the road to target a guy outside EDT, exactly the same story, with "ANOTHER RUN" tomorrow, saw a few people looking and he scarpered up a side street.

[Yak]

His training must be going well. Today it was a 10 mile run he was claiming he was going to be doing in his sales pitch in Camberwell.

[kittenheels]

Agh I wish I?d seen this sooner! I fell for his scam in East Dulwich today. Sigh.

[MatthewGBCN]

Hi cantthinkofaname ,

Thanks for sharing this with us ,

...and ALL of the other contributor's input of this persons illicit activities .

Personally this aggravates me A LOT , I manage, run and fund-raise for charities I operate , like any other job in this world , it is no easy task !

I have been planning to do a fundraiser (starting in late January 2019) in my own home town (stating the obvious) East Dulwich , but after reading about this kind of thing happening here makes me really think about what kind of reception I PERSONALLY will receive and if people would be so burned by their own previous encounters by the wrong doers , that , as me , a genuine person would be immediately refused and completely ignored by my fellow ED folk :-/

... of course , I do not know , and I have yet to find out , but I do hold hope that when I do come knocking at peoples doors , or pop a charity notice/letter through the door , someone will listen or spend a couple of minutes to read about what we do - and chip in - no matter how small :-)

...Also , if someone donates ?1 , 50p or even a 1p [ even as some sort of vindictive insult ] , I would take that donation graciously and thank them for the generosity - ....

after all , they are not helping me , they are helping me help others :-)

Anyway, I digress , enough of me ranting [ I apologise if I come across that way ] , once I am somewhat organised , please keep an eye out for me , I WILL post on this forum at a later time letting folk here know that I will be in the area doing a fundraiser , BUT , for now , I will not be interfering ED folks Christmas season [ time with their family ] .

For now , I now I am the hunt for volunteers [ sooo hard these days ! ]see you all later , and stay vigilant ( and always ask questions ! ) .

[se22cat]

Don't knock on peoples doors for charity donations please. We are all quite capable of choosing which charities to donate money/time to securely online or in person at a bricks & mortar location without being disturbed. This area has also been repeatedly targeted by charity scams which you should surely be aware of.

Please don't harm the environment by pushing unwanted dead trees through letterboxes either.

Running "multiple charities" sounds suspicious as hell to me.

[JohnL]

bcam Wrote:

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> So, we got scammed by a 12-ish y/o red haired kid

> with a blue jacket and London accent last weekend

> outside the EDT. Very convincing spiel. Piece of

> paper with his schools logo on it, and collecting

> for "abused kids". Supposedly a 5k run on Saturday

> in Dulwich Park.

>

> This evening, the same little sh*t walking up the

> street with his clan ran across the road to target

> a guy outside EDT, exactly the same story, with

> "ANOTHER RUN" tomorrow, saw a few people looking

> and he scarpered up a side street.

I'd question if he is working for some adult - that's a form of child abuse however much fake bravado .

Ask him the Chloe Westley question repeatedly.

[Angelina]

Matthew - what charities do you "operate"? Don't we normally 'support' charities?

and why is your focus spread across mulitple ones?

I choose my charities carefully and this sounds rather...spreading yourself too thin, perhaps?

[rendelharris]

se22cat Wrote:

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> Don't knock on peoples doors for charity donations

> please. We are all quite capable of choosing which

> charities to donate money/time to securely online

> or in person at a bricks & mortar location without

> being disturbed. This area has also been

> repeatedly targeted by charity scams which you

> should surely be aware of.

>

> Please don't harm the environment by pushing

> unwanted dead trees through letterboxes either.

Wholeheartedly seconded, working from home every day I'm disturbed so often by charity knockers that I'm seriously considering having a "Charity Collectors: all our giving is done online" sign made (which is true but you wouldn't think so from the way the doorsteppers look at one when one says it); and yes, any charity that wastes the money I've given it on junk mail/flyers asking for more gets crossed off the list.

[wee quinnie]

JohnL Wrote:

>

> Ask him the Chloe Westley question repeatedly.

What's this?