Have you ever been mugged in the street?
I have. Three times recently. It makes you feel all shocked and shivery. And a little more cautious, for a while – of times and places most people don’t give a second thought to.
Twice it happened in places where, and at times when, you wouldn’t feel all that sorry for me:
- in downtown Manhattan, after midnight
- in downtown Madrid, after midnight.
The second occasion I lost a credit card, so I needed a police number for my bank, to prevent the eventual losses far exceeding the immediate loss, which both times sheer embarrassment persuaded me to shrug off.
But when it happens in broad daylight in my small home-town of Whitby, North Yorkshire, I felt a more sustained follow-up was indicated.
Let me say that on none of these occasions was I pistol-whipped, or had a knife held to my throat. Street crime seems to have grown wiser with the passing of the years, or maybe my assailants were more cunning than desperate. Violent muggers are apt to have their careers summarily terminated, since (if nothing else) a violent incident gets priority over one in which the victim isn’t even sure that a crime has been committed until quite some time later, if then. Plus it’s potentially more lucrative to steal the key to your back door than to jemmy the lock – and that applies to street crime too.
I foresee a big future in daylight robbers contriving to look like charity fundraisers because:
- guilt and social blame works in their favour, not the victim’s,
- it’s easier to deflect suspicion, even a direct challenge, to what they’re doing,
- ultimately it’s the charity not the malefactor that will carry the can back.
That said, I’m dismayed how little enthusiasm even major charities display in dissociating themselves from criminals eager to hitch a ride. It’s like tolerating head-lice because each louse doesn’t drink all that much blood to justify the slightest effort in changing your lifestyle. The charity that chugged me in Whitby is earning tens of millions each year from signing-up people in the street to a regular direct-debit. It will take more than public education to shift them from their habit: it will take legislation to turn the tap right off and make them sit quietly in the gutter with the other beggars. Who, unlike them, haven’t much choice in how they win their crust of bread.
I’ll refrain from further comment here because I say everything I need to in my correspondence with the offending charity. I’ve redacted its name and other identifying features because:
- they’re far from being the only ones,
- I’ll Protect The Guilty when The Guilty could get back at me.
What I won’t do is keep silent about a serious and growing abuse that threatens to spiral out of control. So read on…
Tue, 5 Mar 2019 …
Contact Form: ‘Other’ was submitted.
Name
Ian Clark
Email
(redacted)
Address 1
(redacted)
Postcode
YO21 (redacted)
Telephone number
no, but please email me
Subject
Other
Message
Two very pushy black men in sharp blue suits and hard-to-read ID badges, carrying tablet computers, were claiming to be your representatives in Whitby, North Yorkshire this afternoon, 5 March 2019. They had a blue cardboard stand with your name on it in Baxtergate outside St Ninian’s Church, where promotional events are often staged. They were not asking for money but collecting apparently unlimited amounts of information, and were vague about its purpose. They had no literature or business cards for me to take away.
I’ve just consulted your “Where We Are Working” and I don’t see Whitby, or Scarborough (the council) or YO21.
If these people were actually your representatives, I have no complaint to pursue. But if not, you may wish to make further enquiries. I shall assist as far as I can.
I am not a robot
True
Wed, 6 Mar 2019 …
Dear Mr Clark,
Thank you for taking the time to email us with your recent experience with in regards to the fundraising team you met in Whitby Town Centre. I can confirm we do have a fundraising team working there this week.
I am very sorry that your experience left you with a negative impression of (Redacted) Society and I hope that you are reassured that we take all comments and feedback from members of the public very seriously.
If you could provide us with some details that will help us to fully investigate the matter for you, that will be really helpful:
Please, could you provide me with more details of how the team where being pressurising, so I can make sure the team is re-trained in there approach?
Any information you provide will be greatly appreciated so we may conduct a formal investigation and take the necessary actions. Please be assured that we will investigate your complaint thoroughly and will send a full response within 25 working days, once our investigation has been completed.
Once again, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for raising this issue with us which is invaluable in helping us to monitor and improve the quality of our activities ongoing. (Redacted) fully realise that our fundraisers are our ambassadors, and we go to great lengths to provide training to ensure appropriate, professional and courteous conduct at all times making it clear that they are speaking on behalf of (Redacted) Society and checking whether people are happy to talk to them. Clearly, this was not your experience, and I am extremely sorry for any upset caused.
If you wish to discuss this further please don’t hesitate to contact me back via email or you can call our team on 0800 (Redacted).
Kindest regards,
(Redacted)
Supporter Care Team
Wed, 6 Mar 2019 …
Dear (Redacted),
Thank you for informing me that the street fundraiser I encountered in Whitby was bona-fides. Or, to be brutally frank: you had a team operating here and he might have belonged to it.
If he does, I have little to add to what I’ve already stated in my contact-form message. I found the man’s hustling approach grating, but that’s just my personal preference for how I like being accosted in the street. Which is, basically, not at all.
But in my time I’ve sold encyclopedias door-to-door and I’ve worked in crime investigation, I’ve travelled the world and I’ve been mugged, threatened and scammed in the street by panhandlers here and abroad, so I know from experience that an invasive, over-friendly attitude is perfect cover for pickpocketing or other forms of covert abuse. I could not make sense of the man’s ID badge: I saw neither name nor photo, and I can’t recall seeing your logo on his clothing or material – all of which was plastic-bound, tied-down and manifestly not intended for my inspection, let alone retention. If I’d had my mobile on me I would have snapped him. I wish I’d asked his name, but frankly I was repelled by the man’s attitude and just wanted to get away and on with my pressing business.
In an enormous hurry the man was demanding sensitive personal information sufficient to steal my identity, and he answered evasively and unconvincingly to my questions and challenges. I soon concluded he was on a fishing expedition for info he could sell, legitimately or otherwise. When he wanted my email, mobile number and date of birth, this rang alarm bells and I stopped co-operating. When I asked why he needed all this information, his answers were bullshine: “We want to verify you don’t bank abroad / We’re hoping to start something in the area…”
I did not recognise his display-stand banner, which looked flimsy and bald (no logo, no weblink), and I went away determined to look-up “(Redacted) Association” (sic) when I got back home. I also warned nearby shops to treat him and his partner with grave suspicion.
If you’re planning to retrain your operative, it would be hard to know where to start. Nothing about the man rang true. If he’d had so much as a leaflet for me to take home for study and follow-up, it would have gone a long way to allaying my suspicions. I’ve read the description of your fundraisers on your website, and if memory serves nothing about him matched your details as published: name and photo on ID hung on (redacted) sash, logo on clothing, etc. His blue suit, which matched his companion’s, made him look like a US missionary, not a UK fundraiser.
If this man really was your “ambassador”, can I offer some marketing advice? In general I do not part with personal information in the street, and only token amounts of money. I’d recommend that to everyone. But I am amenable to a charitable appeal, backed up by a leaflet I can take home and follow-up later. I have a charity budget and I prefer to give regularly rather than one-off donations. But I’m not Bill Gates so I have to prioritise the many appeals for my support. People who try to elbow their way to the front of my queue do not excite my sympathy.
But if (as I still suspect) the man was bogus, then you badly need to attend to security, because such fringe activities can only bring the legitimate operation into disrepute.
I trust you’ll find this information helpful, offered as it is in a spirit of cooperation and a desire to assist a worthy cause.
Yours sincerely,
Ian Clark
Mon, 18 Mar 2019 …
Dear Mr Clark,
Further to your email dated 7th March 2019, I can confirm that we have now completed our investigation into your complaint. I would firstly like to apologise once again for the experience you had with our face to face fundraising team that was located at Whitby Town Centre.
As a result of this investigation, the team have been fully retrained in their approach. This complaint has been upheld and marked on their records for monitoring purposes. In addition to this, both fundraisers will also be closely monitored in the field to make sure this does not happen again in the future. Should these fundraisers receive any similar complaints in the future action will be taken accordingly.
Once again, I’d like to take this opportunity to apologise and thank you for raising this issue with us which is invaluable in helping us to monitor and improve the quality of our activities ongoing. (Redacted) Society fully realises that our fundraisers are our ambassadors and we go to great lengths to provide training to ensure appropriate, professional and courteous conduct at all times making it clear that they are speaking on behalf of (Redacted) Society and checking whether people are happy to talk to them. Clearly, this was not your experience and I am extremely sorry for the upset that this understandably caused.
If you wish to discuss this further please don’t hesitate to contact me back via email or you can call our team on 0800 (Redacted).
Kindest regards,
(Redacted)
Supporter Care Team
…Blah, blah.
(Observe the repetitiveness of this form-email. “Delete the paras that don’t apply.”)
So – am I satisfied?
Speaking just for myself, it’s no worse than the other occasions I’ve been assaulted in the street. I’m inclined to say “sod it”, and move on.
But speaking for the country as a whole – and I’m not a lonely voice crying in the wilderness – it’s not the end of the story by any means. A story that’s been going on for far too long as this article from 2007 shows.
Collecting sensitive information in the street from passers-by is not just one more weapon (nudge-nudge, wink-wink) in the armoury of a canny charity to fund its worthy cause. It is a hazardous activity with untold capacity for harm, both individual and social. Harm which in time will entail such a backlash as to cut the throat of every charity that does not strenuously dissociate itself from such dangerous – and I maintain unethical – fundraising practices.
Whitby Writers Group 