Shoppers foil gang’s sick ‘charity’ scam

FAKE CHARITY COLLECTORS RAISED SUSPICIONS OF TRALEE SHOPPERS

SAVVY shoppers in Tralee have helped gardaí shut down a gang of con artists who were running bogus suicide charity collections around Ireland.

In the run up to the June Bank Holiday weekend the gang staged a mock collection in Tralee town centre, supposedly in aid of Cork-based charity Suicide Aware.

Shoppers quickly became suspicious of the gang and several contacted the charity who confirmed that they had no such collectors working on their behalf. Gardaí were alerted but by then the gang – who are thought to have run similar scams all over Ireland – had already left Tralee.

A county-wide alert was issued and gardaí across Kerry were told to be on the look-out for the gang.

The alert paid off and two days later – on Friday June 3 – the con artists were caught by gardaí as they targeted festival goers at KFest in Killorglin.

Gardaí seized the gang members’ fake Suicide Aware ID badges, their mock collection buckets and all the money they had collected that day.

This money – a relatively small sum – will now be forwarded on to Suicide Aware. Gardaí have encouraged the public to be on the look-out for bogus collectors and to always check their identification if they have any suspicions.

A GANG of bogus charity collectors who ran a scam collection in Tralee have been tracked down and caught by Gardaí.

A fortnight ago – in the run up to the June Bank Holiday weekend – a group of scam artists claiming to be raising money on behalf of Cork based charity ‘Suicide Aware’ staged a lengthy fake collection in Tralee town centre.

Several members of the public became suspicious due to the con artists’ behaviour and contacted the charity who said there were no such individuals authorised to collect any money on their behalf.

The charity and members of the public contacted gardaí in Tralee to alert them about the scam artists’ activities.

Garda stations across the county were alerted and advised to be on the look out for the suspicious collectors.

The team of con artists were located by Gardaí in Killorglin on Friday June 3 where they were targeting members of the public attending KFest.

The bogus collectors ID badges, collection boxes, posters and money were confiscated. The seized money - understood to be a relatively small amount - will all be forwarded on to Suicide Aware.

Gardaí are continuing to investigate the matter to ascertain if the Suicide Aware ID badges the scam artists had were genuine and, if so, how they managed to obtain them.

The Gardaí advised anyone suspicious of a collector’s true identity to check their credentials and contact the charity involved or gardaí if they have further concerns.

The scam collection in Kerry came just a week after three people from the west of Ireland appeared in court in Cork having carried out a similar scam collection for Suicide Aware in Cork City last November.

Two of the trio involved in the Cork city scam were sentenced to community service and the third was fined.