Bogus Bin Man's Charity Con

Sponsorship seeking skydiver is not raising money for Anthony Nolan Trust

A Chiswick resident was duped into sponsoring a bogus bin man after falling for his story.

She told ChiswickW4.com: "There is a chap going around Chiswick claiming to be a refuse collector and saying that the trucks driver's son is looking for a bone marrow donor. He said that he and the men who work on the bins are doing a skydive to raise money for the Anthony Nolan Trust."

After relaying his story the man produced a long list of handwritten sponsors from the surrounding streets and asked for the cheque to be made payable to the 'Anthony Nolan Trust'.

Deciding to double check with the charity, she discovered that the Anthony Nolan Trust had had a number of calls from various parts of London checking out this man and his story but they had no knowledge of him as an official fundraiser.

A spokesperson for the Trust told ChiswickW4.com: “We can confirm that the man involved is not fundraising for Anthony Nolan and we’ve been working with the police to try to solve the issue.

"The police have advised that any Chiswick residents avoid giving money to the individual, but residents who do issue a cheque to this man should cancel them as soon as possible and notify their local police. However, individuals should not try to apprehend the man themselves."

She continued: "We’d like to thank Chiswick residents for their support of Anthony Nolan. The charity saves the lives of people with blood cancer by matching them to people willing to donate their blood stem cells for lifesaving transplants. If anyone would like to make a donation to the charity, they can do so securely through our website – www.anthonynolan.org – or by calling 0303 303 0303.”

March 22, 2011