People wanting sponsorship - Have I been conned?

[2Sheds]

Two adults and two children came to my door this afternoon asking for sponsorship for a walk in taking place in Dulwich Park on Sunday. I looked at the forms and asked a few questions and was happy to hand over a tenner. It all looked genuine enough except the woman told me that the school/club organising the event - fundraising for the Japanese Tsunami - was called Colwell. I Googled it and nothing came up!

Anyone else get a call? Anyone else heard about the sponsored walk? Have I been conned by a family - surely not!!

* My previous post was removed with no explanation! How can this sort of post offend? I'd like to know!!! *

[sambless]

because obviously a small school/club walk won't have any online presence. have you perhaps miss heard the name? seems daft that people are willing to hand over money and ask questions later, and then find it necessary to moan about it online as though it's something they couldn't of prevented.

[Chick]

That's a bit harsh. There was a spate of scams a while ago, I got caught twice, I only realised they were a con when I heard other peoples stories on here. It's worth knowing about. A woman on your doorstep with a baby at 10.00pm needing to borrow ten pounds so she can charge up her electricity key and a woman in floods of tears needing money to buy food for her children. Very plausible and a superb actress.

[pommie]

i just wanted to say that if anyone knocked on my door asking for money to charge up their electricity key, i would ask them to contact a member of their family to help them

[kylie6097]

i know that the albrighton community centre are doing a sponsored walk, could possible be linked to that :( although when they knocked on my door they had sponsorship form that i had to fill in

[Moos]

2Sheds, your original thread wasn't deleted, it's in the Lounge.

[2Sheds]

sambless:- I have been scammed on the doorstep before so why did I hand over a tenner this time? A young well-dressed asian family knocked on the door - husband?, wife?, two 8 year old? girls - they were very polite, confident and believable. They told me what they were doing, I looked at the sponsorship form and all looked very genuine. I suppose I could have witheld my sponsorship money until they had completed the walk giving me time to make checks but right now I still don't know if they were genuine. Perhaps I shouldn't hand money over to anybody that 'rattles a tin' on the doorstep from now on.

Moos:- You're right I was lounged but haven't a clue why. I can understand threads about Glastonbury, Kite surfing and Reggae residing next to the sofa but a topic that relates directly to East Dulwich and perhaps helping to prevent a local crime should be up there with the petrol thefts, strange beeps and how many houses Foxtons have sold :-)

[Moos]

Judging by a recent post by admin on a similar topic (see 'About This Forum'), it may have been done by mistake in a quick-round cleanup if someone thought it was a generic thread not an ED one - the moderator team don't have time to read all posts. Do click 'report this thread' and ask for it to be moved back if you're not happy.

[StraferJack]

because stuff like this happens EVERYWHERE and isn't confined to east Dulwich? Or SE London? Or London? Or GB?

not even for today..

[Moos]

I can see how you would think it might be general thread, but this is a specific local question - ie is this a real local school and fundraising event.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

I was approached by a young Asian girl (not Japanese) last week in a local shop, and asked for sponsorship for Japan. I declined because that is my default position, and because she wasn't very articulate about what it was for. However, I didn't suspect a scam.

[StraferJack]

You're right - but my point remains valid. these scams everywhere rely on saying "whereweareseville" to lower people'e defences. To my eyes it doesn't make it a local issue. But nor am I arguing this thread should be lounged. It's just one of several threads where I've seen people ask "WHY WHERE WHO?"

It's still not as bad as Nunhead Forum tho - where admin only has to cough and people ask why such a cough had to be heard in Nunhead and why if he coughs they can't cough too

[Moos]

'Tain't, though Strafer. OP wasn't wanting to discuss generic cons. S/he wanted to know whether s/he'd been conned here. Not that anyone seems to know.

Anyway, I think we're illustrating how difficult it is for admin to get it right!

[StraferJack]

But noone ever wants to discuss generic cons - they want to discuss if the one they have been subjected to is specific. Which makes every thing generic (to me)

But it sounds like I'm trying to argue with you (and the OP) - but I'm really not. I was just trying to take a more high-level viewpoint. I'm not trying to admonish anyone

But I agree with you totally about how hard it is for Admin

[breadcrum45]

not related to this thread in any way. I put a post in this section on friday night 5ish warning that the trains to ED where up the spout, it lasted about 10 mins before it got lounged. I see that as a ED issue, think admin has been a bit silly this week, moving nearly everthing of this section.

[pinz]

Just had the same family round our street - plausible, polite, friendly... My hunch is they are genuine. Like the original poster, I would be very surprised if the whole thing is a scam.

[Cora]

But didn't they tell the original poster that it was on Sunday which has now passed?

[pinz]

Sorry - didn't pay any attention to exact date of original post. Still, hoping it is all legitimate.

[2Sheds]

Cora & Pinz:- Not only did they tell me the sponsored walk was due to take place last weekend (4th or 5th) in Dulwich Park but also invited me along to watch!!!

Pinz, what part of East Dulwich were they operating in?

[JessieW]

There was something about this on West Dulwich forum a while ago - mother daughter door knockers that turned out to be a scam. Check it out.

[pinz]

Melbourne grove area.

[flocker spotter]

I think these people have just been to our door. Now beginning of July. Has the sponsored walk moved date? Now saying Rosendale School is organising it so quite easy to check it out. Did not give them money up front....

[2Sheds]

If anyone out there gets a call from these people and is able to PM me or post on this thread immediately with a street and a time (if I'm online) I'll be on my bike and straight over. I'll watch them from a distance and call the police. I want to catch these thieving buggers!!!!!