After receiving a comment from Paul about his dealings with “The Underprivileged Children’s Guide”, I decided to have a quick Google and see what else came up.
It turns out that the guide may well be a legitimate book and is listed by the FPWA Sexual Health Services WA Library, although it isn’t available for loan. I’ve never doubted the information that has been in the proof books that we have received, as they were quite interesting, it was only the advertising that was dodgy. Does it mean that an old stand alone publication has been used and simply had advertising added to it?
Another interesting discovery was that in June 2008, the Joondalup (WA) Council paid $423.50 (Page 78 of the pdf) for “Advertising” in The Underprivileged Children’s Guide.
An article I missed before… Scams rife, fraudsters net victims
TOOWOOMBA resident June Winter is one of a long list of victims affected by cruel scams in the Garden City.
A bill of $400 came in her letterbox a few weeks ago asking her to pay for an advertisement which the company claimed she placed in The Underprivileged Children’s Guide.
“I was unaware that I had even put an ad in this publication and was continually harassed by a female operator asking for the money to be paid,” she said.
“The female operator said I had agreed on the ad three months ago and I was sure this wasn’t the case. A booklet with my business name was sent out to me a few days later.
I realised that there were more Toowoomba businesses featured.”
She contacted the various business owners who were all unaware of the publication.
“Everyone I contacted was furious about what had happened and had also been harassed by a female operator to pay the bill,” she said. “I even searched for the company, but found that it ceased to exist. I contacted Fair Trading and I am waiting for their response.”
Member for Toowoomba North Kerry Shine has warned Toowoomba residents not to get caught by scams. He has launched Fraud Fortnight and said the campaign aimed to raise awareness about the serious threat to personal identity and financial security posed by scams.
“The Office of Fair Trading received more than 1625 complaints about scams last year with 217 coming from Toowoomba alone,” Mr Shine said.
“These figures are only a fraction of the number of scams we know are circulating in the community.
“Many victims of scams don’t report the crime because they feel they’ve been duped and they’re willing to bear the amount of money lost out of fear of embarrassment.
“Fraudsters can make tens of thousands of dollars from unsuspecting victims and they don’t care who they target.”
The top five scams reported in Toowoomba are fake lotteries, chain letters, invoice fraud, which targets business through fake advertising and directory listings, advance fee fraud (also referred to as Nigerian scams) and gambling software.
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I too have nearly been caught by this dodgy group. They seem to be a registered company, but they are not registered as a charity. I have received phone calls telling me about a conversation allegedly held three months ago with either Kristy or Monique from The Underprivileged Children’s Guide. I don’t recall that conversation, but on 9/9/09 the phone call was from Kristy to confirm the details of the ad. When I asked how much, and was told $423.50 I was really surprised and I know that I didn’t agree to such a substantial amount for an ad. They operate from the Gold Coast. They don’t have a street address and there is no reference in the guide about what role they play. The guide which was sent to me in the mail, has no guidance and no main message. I had asked for EFTPOS details and was sent banking details with no Account Name – the Attention line had been blanked out. I have called one other company in the ‘Guide’ and they told me that they too had been harrassed about putting a 1/4 page ad in this booklet. I’ve handed the details that I have into the police.
I have just received my booklet in the mail with my alleged booked advertisement in it. I argued on the phone that I had not organised for this advertising and now cannot wait until they call me back. This thing smelt of scam. I have to why I would agree to advertising in a company in Queensland when I run a very localised service in NSW. I will be warning all my friend and family about this and I am so glad I googled it before I paid.
I have just been constantly harrassed by a girl by the name Christine..
Be carefull what you say on the phone to these people, They have recorded me saying yes to sending more info & changed it into I said yes to posting a cheque.
These idiots seem to forget that they are making it so hard for the genuine causes to get any sort of donation!! It’s Just B/S!!!
My employer has been constantly harrased. He did actually pay a bill of around $450 as he did not realise what was going on. Since then they have tried various ways to con him again. Including telling him that I had agreed to an ad and he had to pay, also posing as uni students and asking us to send them copies of our recent advertising, they also have called me and asked questions that I would reply Yes to, then using those responses to say I had agreed to the ad. On one occassion in December 2009 my employer said no, he wasnt going to be conned again and the man on the phone said, thats ok, we have already got enough out of you. They have still continued to call since then.
Sadly I missed a lot of this advice on the other page – as my experiences are much the same, and I suspect they record your voice at carefully selected prompts when the young girl with the sweet disarming voice calls up to “confirm” where to send yr proof. Please write to the media (A Current Affair, Sunrise, Today, etc) about these scams – the more people know, the less they can con.