Last Friday, a REGIONAL member brought in a check for $2.50. It was supposedly part of a fundraising drive for the National Cancer Research Center.
The letter basically said (my summary), “Here is a check for $2.50. You can cash it if you want, but what I hope you will do is send us a check for $10 for our annual fund drive.”
The REGIONAL MSR felt there was just something weird about this setup; they’re trying to raise funds, so they’re sending people checks? Is this a legitimate charity, or are they up to something?
The member didn’t end up cashing the check. I agreed with this decision and had the MSR make copies of the letter and check for my files. I felt like the jury was still out, though. It could have been real. It just wasn’t worth the risk to the member.
However, this weekend our CEO stumbled upon this, an article on someone’s personal finance blog. It’s the exact same setup, only this time (supposedly) for Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
This makes me think these letters and checks are part some sort of scheme. However, the actual text of the letters is a little different. Most crooks reuse the same text over and over. Is this some incredibly elaborate rig designed to bilk the public out of millions of dollars, ten bones at a time? Or are they up to something even more sinister?
I’d love to get an official answer on this one; is this the new trend in fundraising, sending people a check for $2.50 and hoping they send you $10 instead? It seems like a risky venture in a down economy—if you send out a million of these letters, you run a very real risk of losing $2.5 million instead of making $10 million.
Online information about the National Cancer Research Center is very sketchy, but M.A.D.D. is a well-known organization. Does anybody out there know for sure?
I may have to dig deeper into this. If you’ve received a similar letter/check combination, or can provide some sort of insight, let me know in the comments.
At any rate, I’d say this: don’t cash that check, and don’t send any money. It’s not worth $2.50. If it is a legitimate fundraiser, these organizations need to understand that this technique strikes people as strange, and they don’t trust it. There are other ways to donate to causes you believe in.
