The Sponsor A Third World Child Scam

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Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 7:28 am

I was listening to talkback radio this morning and heard a bloke complaining that he'd signed up for one of these schemes - you know, sponsor a child for $30 per month and help change their life, etc etc. He said that his credit card had been debited the $30 for a few months but suddenly he was asked to pay $150 because 'the child has died and the family needs to pay for a funeral'. Feeling sorry for them he coughed up and now apparently he's being asked to pay for ongoing medical expenses for other members of the family, a new roof to replace the old one lost in a storm, school books, yada yada. You get the drift.

I tried to call in and explain that it was almost certainly a scam but couldn't get through. I will email the show's host and give him a heads up anyway.

I know there are several genuine charities that run these Sponsor A Child schemes and they are perfectly legit. I'm guessing this bloke signed up with a bogus one and/or he's responded to a phishing email. Has anyone come across this one before?

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 11:32 pm

I had one complete with lovely website and all. It was before I found 419 and deleted it though. Less than a week ago

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 10:48 am

I've never heard of this. I'm not at all happy about it. I'm not surprised as there are people with absolutely no soul setting out trying to drain the souls of others as these sponsor a child scams would do, but it's an unhappy thought.

Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 3:38 am

My daughter has been sponsoring a child in africa for about 8 years. It seems legit. She gets mailed real pictures, not emails, report cards, stuff like that . I think too much work for a lad, but still after hanging around here for a month or so I will look a little deeper. Its sad that they parrallel genuine humanitarian efforts. But if its easy for them why not.

Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 5:49 am

There are several perfectly legitimate child sponsor charities, WorldVision and Oxfam spring to mind, who do good work for deprived kids living in extreme poverty all over the world. They advertise on TV, radio and the printed press and they do a great job. When you sign up for these schemes you get a proper tax invoice/receipt and open lines of communication with the charity's administration. You can also cancel your contributions at any time, no questions asked.

What rang alarm bells for me was the fact that the sponsor was approached to pay additional money, allegedly for a funeral. As far as I know this is highly unusual practice and, cynic that I am, I immediately suspected a scam. I don't know the name of the charity involved in this story but it would not surprise me if the sponsor was approached via email to 'sponsor' a child for $30 per month, gave his details thinking it was one of the many legitimate organisations, and found himself paying for a lot more than he bargained for.

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