Search the Community

Extremely thorough man foils ‘Singapore Poly’ student scam (Disclaimer: Microsoft News is currently reviewing the accuracy of this story with the publisher due to social media source.) A man said Wednesday he had filed a police report after foiling a donation scam by two people claiming to be Singapore Polytechnic students. The students had tried to solicit money under a bogus fundraising campaign, Facebook user Gabriel YW wrote in a now-deleted post. He was told the donations were for a local charity which indeed held a recent fundraiser – that ended in September. “Door to door donation drive scam. Please be aware of such cases going on in your estate by some youths. Earlier today I encountered 2 youths claiming to be from Singapore Poly and doing [door-to-door] collections for SingYouth Hub,” the man wrote. Among the red flags that the boys raised were their receipt booklets and questionable license permit, Gabriel said. Skeptical, he probed the duo further about their scheme and was unconvinced about the legitimacy of the fundraiser. He then told the boys to leave. Afterward, he checked the website of their purported charity, SingYouth Hub, website and called to enquire about its fundraising campaign, only to be told it had ended three months ago. One of the first things that Gabriel noticed about the boys were the “off the shelves” receipt booklets they were holding — unusual for donation collectors, according to his post. Gabriel then asked for their license permits and saw portions blanked out and re-written with other names and identification numbers. “Upon checking their permit, which they happily produced, it shows discrepancies as the original name has been ‘blanco’ and written with another name,” Gabriel added, with reference to the correction fluid brand. A photo of the permit handed to Gabriel showed the name “Teh Tze Tzer” as the licensee, different from the original version of the license on SingYouth Hub’s website, which had the name “Tan Chiew Hwee” on it. No one will ever accuse this guy of not doing his due diligence. “Two red flags and they tried to convince me that what they did is legal and even tried to call their team leader. I told them to stop whatever they are doing right now and leave the premises,” Gabriel added. “Police has been informed of such activity.” According to the SingYouth Hub website, their recent fundraising campaign ran from June 18 to Sept. 15. Proceeds from the sale of wristbands went to their social entrepreneurship program, a mental wellness organization and fundraising costs. There are a number of ways to verify the legitimacy of donations in Singapore, one of them is to text the license number to the authorities at 79777 using the format “FR”. You will then receive an SMS reply indicating whether the organization has a valid license or certificate.

as above sorry should be a statement not a question

Red Cross finds $90k has gone missing 08:02 AM Dec 06, 2010 SINGAPORE - The Singapore Red Cross has filed a police report against an employee for allegedly misappropriating about $90,000. The employee, an administrative assistant from the finance department, has been suspended from duty. In a statement late last night, the society said the problem was uncovered during internal checks on its accounts on Dec 1 and that the discrepancies started in February. It added that the employee cannot be named as investigations are in progress. The police report was filed on Friday and the society has also reported the incident to the Commissioner of Charities. When contacted, Singapore Red Cross secretary-general Christopher Chua said: "We're taking it seriously. We're investigating and we'll tighten our processes to ensure it doesn't happen again. We'd like to assure the public that their donations will be taken care of." The society was unable to divulge details, but Mr Chua said the missing money did not come from any specific fund or donation drive. The incident is the latest in a number of cases over the years to have occurred in the charity sector. The Commercial Affairs Department has been investigating, since May, possible misuse of funds at City Harvest Church. Investigations are also continuing into the Sri Siva Krishna temple in Marsiling. Past high-profile cases include the National Kidney Foundation and Ren Ci Hospital and Medicare Centre. The Singapore Buddhist Federation is also exploring possible disciplinary action that can be taken against former Ren Ci chief executive Ming Yi. http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC10...as-gone-missing

Hi all, If we have given up hope on some charitable organization and reluctant to donate to them directly, what do you do to as an alternative? Thinking aloud of becoming a regular blood donor instead. Give life and yet don't have to give to those notorious bodies. Any regular blood donor here? wonder how often can we donate? is it like once or twice a month? Is it a time consuming process? What else do you guys do if no longer donating money, be it fund raising activities or as part-time social worker? Regards,