ABSTRACT
The charity receives a letter, usually from a foreign country, stating that the charity has been left a sum of money in someone's will. One of the common features of most of the scams described in this book is that the scam merchant utilizes the greed of the victim. In the case of charity scams, it is the victim's trust and generosity that is exploited. The value of the charity scam industry is difficult to quantify but the total level of charitable donations in the US alone is some $140 billion each year. Estimates put the level of fraudulent fundraising at over S1 billion of this, although much of this relates to consumer scams rather than business scams. The Charity Commission has powers of investigation where misconduct and wrongful use of charity money is suspected. They can investigate any registered charity in England and Wales and take action to put matters right if abuse or mismanagement is identified.
