Man collecting for breast cancer charity - Copleston Road area

[R&A]

I've just had a gentleman knocking on behalf of a breast cancer charity.

He told me about a new therapy called 'Olaporeed' but he didn't know how to spell it...

He said that it was like chemotherapy but only had headache as a side effect

He didn't have a leaflet to give me or anything - he just asked me to look up the therapy on the website 'breastcancer.org'. I can't find it. But perhaps I've spelled it wrong?

Has anyone heard of this 'new' therapy? Apparently the government wont pay for it....

Seemed quite late to be knocking on doors - anyway I found the whole thing a little suspect and wondered whehter he'd knocked on anyone else's door and explained himself a little better?

or whether i've just been too suspicious?

[Sue]

R&A Wrote:

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> or whether i've just been too suspicious?

xxxxxx

He was asking for money late at night for a therapy he didn't know how to spell?

An alternative to chemo?

Not too suspicious, no .....

What was the money supposed to be for, exactly?

ETA: If you can be bothered, maybe report this to the police?

[gog]

Scam.

No drug would only have headache as a side effect if clinally tested in trials.

[R&A]

I asked him who manufactured it, he didn't know that either...

The first thing he said was, 'do you know anyone who's died of breast cancer'. So quite emotive stuff.

Ok - that's confirmed - sounds dodgy

If anyone hears from him then pls don't give him any cash

Eta: the money was to be used for 'research' and to help pay for this drug 'olaporeed'. That's when I started asking him questions.

Cos if the drug worked, it would be approved by NICE. If they'd refused, we'd know about it from the press.

[JulieP]

They came to our place as well. It was past 9.

I thought he seemed kosher as was dressed in breast cancer jacket, had ID and there were other collectors in the area.

I agree that it was too late to be knocking on doors.

I suspect they are desperate to get their commission and resorting to a few "untruths" to do so.

The one that came here told us we could not donate online as it was too expensive to set such as system up!

[reeko]

I think he will have been referring to olaparib. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olaparib

It is an experimental therapy, with potential for breast and ovarian cancer for women with a particular mutation. I think this is very likley to be a scam. I work for a cancer charity that had a hand in developing drugs of this type and it would be very unlikley that we would want to fundraise in this way.

If anyone gets more details about what organistion this person is saying they are from can you let me know. If this is a registered fundraiser they are operating well outside their brief and should be stopped.

Thanks

[maxxi]

I saw a group of four guys with Breast Cancer Campaign smocks on (you can tell by the logo which is a piece of pink jigsaw puzzle) working their way up Melbourne Grove (from the station end) at around 3.30 - they were knocking on doors in pairs though.

[reeko]

Ummmmm - I appreciate that all charities need to chase their income pretty hard these days, but they need to ensure that any agents working on their behalf do not misprepresent facts. If the fundraiser was referring to olaparib, this is currently only available to patients on trials, as its effectiveness has not yet been proven.

Also any charity worth their salt will have on-line donation (Breast Cancer Campaign does) - it is by far the cheapest way to collect monies, and also provides an opportunity to expose people to more information about what the charity does.

I recommend that you contact Breast Cancer Campaign, they are a reputable charity and I am sure they would not want fundraising of this type in their name. Kicking off by asking do you know anyone who has died of breast cancer is just not on.

http://www.breastcancercampaign.org/contact-us

[MarkE]

Yup, we had a visit from them yesterday evening, at around 6:30pm, on one of the roads between Felbrigg and Lordship Lane.

His patter was that 80% of breast cancer was curable, and their aim was to get that up to 100%. I didn't really have the time to allow him to go much further, but didn't think it was too late (one would imagine that doing the same at around 3pm would have generated far less interest and a lot more unanswered knocks).

[reeko]

Yes breast cancer survival rates have increased massively. Most women survive five years or more. This is largely down to research into better screening and treatments. The breast cancer community have also been excellent at collaborating and sharing data. They get together every five years or so and collate all their data from clinical trials (a meta analysis), so they can have a much greater degree of certainly about the benefits of any interventions.

Research works and should be supported, but all charities need to do this responsibly

[Jacqui5254]

Seriously, folks, why are we engaging with total strangers, uninvited, late at night, about personal views and private information??

There are many different ways to make money for charities and to spread the word about new research and it is a lot more credible than offering an opportunity to a cold caller who could be ANYBODY.

As long as we reinforce this, the more knocks on the door late at night. A 'breast cancer jacket' and 'ID' [would you REALLY know if it was genuine or not?] should not give you access to someone's home or life.

[first mate]

Worrying if it is a scam, which it sounds to be. Where/how have they got the jackets? Sounds like it is large and well organised. Definitely one for the police.

[reeko]

It may not be a scam, some reputable charities do collect from door to door. I actually became a supporter of a charity through a door step approach from a collector who was very knowledgeable and passionate about the charity. I became a supporter in part because I was so impressed by him.

The danger is in getting agents in to work on commission - either chuggers or door-steppers. There must be a huge temptation for these people to use unapproved tactics to collect funds. If they have offical garb on it is likely that they are official collectors, they are just over stepping the mark somewhat.

Again - please contact breast cancer campaign if you are concerned over their activities

[Jacqui5254]

On so many levels, knocking on people's doors is WRONG.

Its in a private place so it can't be monitored for appropriate behaviour, it could be ANYBODY, they could say ANYTHING to persuade you, could make ANY claims, etc.

At least if they were more public approaches the 'collector' might have to behave more responsibly. Why not ask people outside shops? their place of work? on the train?

I know these aren't ideal but it would be harder for someone masquerading as a collector to behave innapropriately.

As long as you open the door and chat to someone 'collecting for charity', the more often scammers, or worse, will call.

Official-looking garb does not mean official!

Don't do it!!

[JulieP]

We have charities knocking on our door almost every week. They must be getting some donations to keep on doing this.

I admit I do answer the door - I might want to see the person knocking!

However, it would be crazy to give out bank details. Even if the charity was above board, who knows who might see / get hold of the paperwork.

I have contacted the charity (I think) are involved to make them aware of this.

[Growlybear]

I have spent the last year being treated for breast cancer and I would just love this person to knock on my door. I can think of a few choice things I would like to say to him.

[returnee]

Just to confirm that this 'pink jacket' organisation knocked on our door (Bellenden) late on both Wednesday evening (one guy) and again this evening (two guys) - same patter. I decided to see what was being said on the Forum because I am also tired of these kind of visits ... had Unicef twice within two days about a month ago too ... they don't seem to coordinate the roads they do ...