A children’s charity has suffered “serious reputational harm” due to fraudsters repeatedly using its branding, including its former name on a large number of fake collection bags.
This week, Suffolk County Council warned residents not to leave donations outside their homes after some of the collection bags were discovered in rural hedges.
The bags claimed to be in support of Be Child Cancer Aware, the former name of Beads of Courage UK, and appeared to have been delivered through several letterboxes.
Beads of Courage UK, which rebranded in 2018, does not operate clothing collections and co-founder and chair John Drummond said he was “deeply concerned by this activity”.
“Any bags, collections or doorstep approaches made in our name, or our former name, are entirely fraudulent and should be reported to the police and Action Fraud immediately,” he said.
“Sadly this isn’t an isolated incident. We’ve been made aware of fraudulent activity carried out under both our former name, Be Child Cancer Aware, and our current name and branding, Beads of Courage UK.
“This pattern of sustained misuse of our identity by criminal elements is causing serious reputational harm to a charity that exists solely to support seriously ill children and their families, and we urge the public to remain vigilant.”
Charity to notify regulators
Beads of Courage UK operates across the UK and recently recorded an income of £636,000, all of which came from donations and legacies, in its accounts for the year to January 2025.
Drummond said that while his charity’s 2018 rebranding did not relate to issues of fraud, it is acutely aware that its identity continues to be exploited.
“As a family-founded charity we’re deeply conscious of the concerns that doorstep collections can raise, both for the privacy of the public and the very real risk of our name and reputation being misused by fraudsters,” he said.
“Sadly, that concern has proven well founded.”
Asked whether his charity had filed serious incident reports and raised the issues with the charity regulators, Drummond said it had so far directed members of the public to contact their local council and police when incidents arose.
However, he said Beads of Courage UK would now be taking steps to formally notify the regulators “as a matter of priority, to ensure there’s an official record of the sustained misuse of our charity name and branding”.
Council: ‘Crooks cashing in on people’s kindness’
Suffolk County Council said it was concerned fraudsters might be using the fake collection bags “to take advantage of people’s generosity by collecting donations intended for charity”.
It urged residents to check any door-to-door collection before donating items and contact the charity if needed to ensure the collection is genuine.
Councillor June Mummery said: “These crooks appear to be cashing in on people’s kindness.
“They’ve used the name of a legitimate charity to make their collection bags look genuine and persuade residents to leave items outside – only for them to be stolen.
“Nobody wants their donation to end up in the hands of criminals.”
