A Waterloo man has been charged with fraud after allegedly throwing more than a dozen charity events and pocketing $40,000 in donations.
For the past six months, Waterloo Regional Police have been untangling the alleged scam, which they say involved at least 12 bogus charities, all with names similar to real ones. “The name of the charities would be just a little bit different than the (legitimate) charity actually was,” Staff Sgt. Wally Hogg of the fraud branch said yesterday. “You can add three letters on the end of it, and it makes a big difference.” Hogg wouldn’t identify the legitimate charities but said they represent causes “right across the board.” Several hundred people made donations at fraudulent fundraising events, which included dances and parties, Hogg said. They won’t get their money back, he said. Police say a bank account in the name of each fake charity was opened for depositing the donations.
An investigation was launched after one of the real charities alerted police to a potential fundraising scam in mid-2008. Police discovered the same person had been holding similar events since 2007.