Watch out for this classic magazine scam still going strong in the 21st Century. What makes the Kids For Life rogues particularly disgusting is that they not only use children as a selling point but are a registered charity.
In June 2017 a charity phoned me and asked me to help raise money for terminally ill children. 🧑⚕️
The way they raise the money is to sell business advertising in a magazine called Kids for Life which they claimed was being distributed in hospitals, GP surgeries and gyms. 🤔
My guard was down when I received the cold call begging me to financially help sick kids – something I agreed to do – and I’m kicking myself now. 🤦♂️
Publication Fraud: A Classic Deception
In this type of fraud, an association with public services or good causes is emphasised to give the impression a small business looking for publicity can gain exposure off the back of it. 🥹👨💼
Naturally, only a few copies of the magazine are ever printed which are shown to the advertiser to satisfy suspicions and support the lie that has been peddled.
On close inspection, you would note that it contains generic stock photography and cliched written waffle to fill the pages… but if you had no idea it was a scam, you might not notice.
Action Fraud describes this as publication fraud.
The BBC Radio 4 programme Your and Yours made a feature about Kids for Life on March 15th 2018. Sign up for a free account with the BBC and listen to the audio from 32:34.
The Fraudster’s Charm Offensive
The “charity” caller who contacted me can be described as a polite, flattering, persistent gentleman. He said the organisation he represented was a genuine, registered charity, which I could look up online myself. The level of flattery was actually ridiculous and should have been a red flag. 🤗 🚩
I visited the Kids for Life website, noted the charity number displayed thereon and checked this on the Charity Commission website. Apparently, it was legit.
The caller was at pains to insist I wouldn’t have to pay the £149 cost until after the magazine had been printed, and even then, I could take as long as needed settling the bill.
I agreed, verbally, but was never asked to sign anything nor did I receive correspondence via postal mail.
What I did get was an email containing a digital sample advert proof they had put together using images from my website.
Weeks later an A4 padded envelope was delivered to my house with a copy of their glossy magazine inside.
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Sure enough, my advert was included next to those of the other patrons between pages of articles about cancer treatments.
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This Is What A Fraudster’s Invoice Looks Like…
The magazine is printed by “Impress Designs Ltd” who were described in the phone call as a publishing partner.
When I received the invoice I was told to pay it within 14 days – which I did.
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I paid the invoice, and received another flattering phone call from the same individual as before, thanking me for my kindness and generosity.
Weeks later, the same person called and insisted the charity still needed my help, that they wanted to raise even more money, and would I be kind enough to dig deep again? 🚩
I said no, but he wouldn’t listen. He pressed me but I managed to get rid of him and have not heard anything since.
How Does a Fake Charity Pose as a Real One?
The problem is, Kids for Life actually is a genuine charity and that is the basis on which I handed over money. 😠
A cursory glance of the site is reasonably convincing since they display a real registered charity number – 1157571 – and that is because the Charity Commission has still not caught onto what’s going on, despite all the other complaints going back as far as 2014. 😑
In hindsight, the website is just a cut and paste job made using Wix, with various social media profiles but few followers and no significant activity; a telltale sign of inauthenticity. 🚩
Manipulating the Financials
Sham charities exist for the purposes of putting cash in the pockets of directors and staff, while only a small proportion goes to any real worthy causes. 🤫
At the time of writing this post, the accounts of Kids For Life are made up to September 2016 on their Charity Commission profile which says they raised £5,618 and spent £4,616.
I suspect they profited much more than £5,618 but have not declared it. The little genuine spending they have done has been for the purposes of public relations. 🤡
I left a public comment on a blog post by another complainant in which I asked how they maintain their image with little to no charitable spending:
How and where did you find out about their charitable donation? I want to complain to the CC too. Is there any chance I can recover my money, since I paid in good faith upon discovering they were registered as a charity.
The CC have done a poor job of vetting Kids for Life. The CC can bloody well pay me back. I’ve medical costs of my own to worry about.
The complainant blogger replied:
If you go back to the first comment on this thread you’ll find a reference to the registration of the charity back in 2014.
Not long after that I was contacted by a journalist working with Three Counties Radio, who was planning to expose the scam.
He told me that KFL had paid for a decoration to hang on a Christmas tree somewhere in the north (Manchester?), which was good publicity for them, but just a token really.
Soon after, I visited KFL’s own site and it was announcing that they had contributed equipment to a children’s hospital.
There was no reason to think that this might not be true, and it looked a generous gift, though it is not clear just what proportion of the “charity’s” earnings this represented.
Whatever, I suppose these donations make KFL look like a charity, and that may be enough to stop The Charities’ Commission asking serious questions.
But CC has been aware of concerns for some time now, so do contact them.
There Is No Headquarters
As of March 2018, their registered address is 132-134, Gt Ancoates, Manchester M4 6DE. A Google Street view shows this is a mail forwarding service used to protect the real address of the directors. 🧐
Harassment From Fake Debt Recovery Firm
Those businesses who have realised this is a scam and refused to pay have been threatened with court action by a so-called C & H debt recovery. Disregard any such threats. 🥸
If someone calls you claiming to be a debt collector, ask for a head office phone number as well an employee number.
Who’s Behind the Scam?
The name Andrew Peter Ager has been used for the 2016 and 2017 accounts. Brian Law and David Parker are names that have been used when contacting businesses, according to reports.
Inpress Designs and RCP Media are alternative names the fake publishing partner have used and it is likely the same people are operating the whole show. 🎭
Similar Scams Exposed In the Media
A company calling themselves The Emergency Services was cold-calling individuals to promote a magazine called React, which according to them would be “sent directly to individual police forces, ambulance and fire services, for onward distribution.”
They were exposed:
The reality was different. The court heard the company received £466,922 in 2013 and £367,765 in 2012 from advertising but gave just 1.8% – about £15,000 – to charity. The directors and staff scooped £510,000 in the two years.
A similar group running a £5.2m operation from a rented Liverpool city office were found guilty of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and fraudulent trading. 🤬
A CNN TV news reported on cancer charities ripping off donors and feds accusing four cancer charities of fraud in which “donations for cancer charities were spent instead on luxury lifestyles.” 🤥
Making a Complaint About a Fake Charity
Charities are regulated by a public authority, such as the Charity Commission in England and Wales, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator in Scotland and the Charities Regulator in Ireland.
You’ll need to find out which organisation is the regulator for charities in your country. In the United States, for example, it’s the Federal Trade Commission.
Complain to the Charity Commission
Kids for Life as a registered charity in England and Wales are supposedly under investigation so do report them.
Visit this page to log a complaint about a charity.
Alternatively, call 0800 023 2101.
Are the Charity Commission Doing Anything About Sham Charities?
A YouTube video from the official channel of the Charity Commission touches on “unauthorised personal benefits” and “criminal activity” but the presentation and delivery of the information is poor and frankly, unsatisfactory. 🙃
Reporting Fraud Charities to Action Fraud
The Action Fraud website has information about charities and you can submit a report here.
Summary: Always Be Well Prepared for Scams, Collect Evidence
Be suspicious of every proposal from anyone you don’t know who calls you. Determined rogue outfits will anticipate this and prepare any number of excuses, so don’t be convinced “time is of the essence” or that there’s a “time-limited offer”.
Better still, be smart and take detailed notes when dealing with ANY suspected fraudster.
- Check and double check everything they say, ask to be written to by post and by email.
- Get names, contact numbers, and addresses.
- Record calls if you can using software such as Audacity, Evaer or Screencast-O-Matic. I always get people to call me on my landline, because I route it through Skype, which means everything goes through my sound card.
A secretly recorded phone conversation is not admissible as court evidence but you can use it to produce a written transcript.
Scams are on the rise but the ones that are successful often rely on the victim’s own greed such as the stolen credit card trick or this dodgy business leads operation.
More Exhausting/Depressing Scam B.S. People Have to Deal With…
🤥 Magazine Advertising Scam: Rogues Impersonate Crime Prevention Officers
💳 Stolen Credit Card Email Scam Targets Small Businesses and Service Providers
🔑 How Safe Is Your Password from the $450 Billion Cybercrime Industry?
⚠️ Looking for Online Work? Don’t Fall for this Fake Hays Recruitment WhatsApp Scam
💳 Exposed: The HK Investment “Recovery” Scammer Deceiving Victims
💋 Chinese Tinder Profiles Are Using Photos of Pretty Girls to Scam “Investors”
🤥 Warning: Dubious Web Industry “Regulator” Selling Questionable Business Leads
This scam is still doing the rounds. A rather well spoken person asking for donations to the magazine and still giving the same KidsForLife web address and charity number. His phone number is 07979243129.
A nice long speil about poor kids with cancer etc etc.
Dont fall for it
If have you a microphone, I suggest anyone getting these kinds of calls put their phone on loud speaker and position the mic near enough to the handset to record what the person is saying.
The Charity Commission of England & Wales seriously need to act on this and shut them down.
Hi, I had same problem few months ago, but didn’t pay them.They sended invoice and the magazine, and front page looks same as in the article, and I am refused to pay after this article. They want to send all to debd collector. Any advice guys?
Report them to the Charity Commission of England and Wales. The CC has received many complaints but it seems they’re not getting enough in order to bother doing something about this rogue outfit.
I also had this and they are trying to make me pay even though I did not agree to go ahead. I have reported them to Watchdog and linked this blog too.
Have had the same scam. Nice guy on the phone offering advertising space in a letter box drop magazine. 30 miles radius of our area. Had a copy of magazine sent through to us with an invoice. TOTAL SCAM. We haven’t paid and have had a phone call chasing the debt.. just ignore the calls and texts .. as advised by action fraud everything they send is a SCAM. Have informed the charities commission also with all the details. About time the CC woke up. Keep vigilant and don’t pay !!
The CC really need to start using their authority – if they have any – to come down hard on fraudsters. I paid the money on the basis that this was a registered charity.
Hello in July a lady called me if I want to participate for kids with cancer with my company in raising charity I said yes wasn’t the first time but first time with they best solution send it me a copy with a magazine and my company advertised in the magazine but i DIDNT SIGNED ANYTHING and I DIDNT PAYED ANYTHING because I saw this post and I realised ITS A BIG SCAM!!!not they trethen me with court if I don’t pay IAM NOT GONA PAY A PENNY they must take a real job I need advice please thank you July 2022
Hi, this company has a debt collector agency chasing me for £700 £200 was this company’s original charge. As I have no recollection of this even happening I have asked for proof which they cannot or will not give me now I have a court case pending on me if I do not act ! Any advice how I can handle this ?
Many thanks in advance
I’m in the same boat. I originally paid for this magazine in 2018. They called again early 2023 and I wasn’t interested. To get them off the phone I said I would speak with my partner the ignored all calles.
They then sent me the magazine even though I didn’t accept or give them the go ahead. A year on I’m getting threatening messages from a company call apex management agency who are a debt collectors in London.
Not sure what I should do. Have you just ignored the debt collectors?
Yep this happened to me and I paid £200 and then they tried to get me again and I refused. A month later they phoned me again but pretended to be a different company but the man had the same voice he is Irish.
Had a phone call two days ago…whilst fitting a bathroom suite, caught me off guard and said yes. Have since sent an email back to Impress Designs saying to cancel. What’s even more annoying is they received my details of the Gas Safe Register, so I’ll probably be inundated!
Hi ive just been scammed caught off guard on a job thinking i was donating to a good charity. Feel stupid now. Ive got the invoice and book as pictured above. Not paid any advice should i pay or just ignore them.
Ignore them, and tell them the police are monitoring them.
Don’t pay !! If you do they will contact you again. Just ignore all contact from them. They will give up !!
Just had a call from a John Shepherd for Kids 4 Life, asking me to pay for a mention in the magazine. Thanks for highlighting this, I declined quickly.
This operation is based in Hattersley House, Ormskirk, Lancashire.
They do not have any signage on their office doors and they refuse to have any signage in the entrance lobby to the building.
There is a team of about 15 people “working” in this office. The whole operation is a scam and the boss is an individual called [name removed on 07/12/18 pending police enquiries]. They use various trading styles including : Kids 4 Life & RCP Magazine ( Regional Crime Prevention )
Whilst you may be sent a mock up of a realistic looking magazine it does not get printed and distributed !
Hi Rob, thanks for the info. How did you come by these details?
I just found your other comment here from 2017 on Jason’s website.
I’m shocked that the Charity Commission still has done nothing.
Edit: 07/12/18: Rob has still not replied with information on how he was able to associate the previously named individual to the scam charity “Kids For Life.”
It appears though, that [name removed] has been previously linked to another organisation which carried out remarkably similar deceptive practices aimed at small business owners by touting a charity magazine for which advertising space was sold.
Both organisations have operated from Manchester and used threatening behaviour and tactics in the pursuit of so-called debts against individuals with whom no contract existed.
These comments are made purely in the public interest and to prevent possible criminal activity. These comments should be regarded as opinion and conjecture and should be passed to the police as information that could be used to establish facts that may be used as admissible court evidence in the event of a prosecution.
I came across this organization as I have a business based in Ormskirk.
They are well known locally as the various scams go back over a 10 year period.
They use a wide variety of ” advertising themes” ranging from Kids4Life to their latest which is a publication highlighting ” rogue traders” and asking businesses to advertise in this publication.
Just let everyone know not to pay any money to these people. They are not legitimate and will not pursue it through legal channels.
I had exactly the same as you guys from kids for life I quickly emailed them and cancelled my donation and as far as I’m concearned I’ve signed no contract agreement to be obligated to pay so they will not be getting nothing from me
I got scammed in 2016 by this company also, I still have the invoice and magazine as proof, what are the directions forward. The hit me down for £150 and the second call they asked for £355
This is so wrong
I received a phone call from a man calling himself Mr Trevor Francis Barrett (feel free to give him a call cos he forgot to hide his number 07901883530) who said he was from Rundles & Co ltd working for the Northampton Combined Court and was calling to inform me that the bailiffs were on there way to serve me a CCJ and a court writ for a debt from of a company that I had advertised with over 2 years ago.
The company in question called themselves a charity that sells advertising space in drug awareness booklets that are distributed to high schools…. sounded like a good charitable thing to do. I did it once then they kept calling.
I cant remember the name but RCP rings a bell.
Until I read sites like:
http://www.tapa.co.uk/charity-advert-scams/
https://www.smallbizgeek.co.uk/bogus-charity-magazine-ad-scam/
And told them the next time they called me that I knew they were scamming me and asked to be removed from their systems.. never heard another word until Trevor called me (can you guess that is not his real name yet?)
The scary thing for me was he had all of the information from the charity, my address, company name, amount I paid etc, as if he was looking at their CRM.
The charity/advertising company had apparently raised a CCJ against me for lack of payment for the last 2 years, at what they said was their standard rates of £299/month for a drug awareness booklet, so a grand total of £4300.
Trevor said then that they think the company is a scam, but unfortunately cant do anything about it, legally they have to serve me my CCJ, which will be a black mark against my name for the rest of my life making mortgages and loans incredibly difficult to get in the future and hand over my court writ. Luckily, he was able to make sure the court appearance would be in a local court as there is no use driving all the way to Northampton for a court case that I should win anyway.
He told me lots of other things…. all the same scare tactics to make me feel pressured, “Are you in the house now”
Trevor told me to look him up on the https://certificatedbailiffs.justice.gov.uk/searchPublic.do?search=trevor+francis site and he there was listed, exactly the same details he gave me a few seconds earlier, as if by magic.
He reminded me that the bailiffs were on the way to my house to claim back the funds, but if I wanted to postpone this I just needed to say and he would sort it out for me and he called head office just before it closed, he was really nice.
While he was off, I called 101, I ended up speaking to Surrey Police, who said they couldn’t get involved as its a civil proceeding, but to call the CAB tomorrow. No help really, but funnily enough when I said to Trevor I had called them, he jumped in and said “they cant help it’s a civil matter”, as if he knew all along.
Trevor called back and said the bailiffs were nearly there now, but he had cleared it with head office and they would only hand me my writ for court and a copy of the CCJ and they wouldn’t ask for any money if I paid £2000 into a 3rd party Legal Advisory Service account that was safe and no one could get to until after the court case:
Feel free to top up his account:
account name: alp legal advisory
sc: 23-63-07
acc#: 01915265
ref: ale74691
(I have contacted the bank in question and told them about this – they are uaccount.co.uk an online only service.
Bank Name: Wirecard
Bank Address: 3 Hood St, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 6JQ )
When pushed on how I could tell if this was a legitimate account he said I would need to trust him.
I was told to BACs the money now and take a screenshot to show the bailiff as proof of payment, so they wouldn’t be forced to take payment on the door or remove items to the value of £5000 (have to add on their service charge).
I said I would pay it straight away and hung up and called the company he said he worked for rundles.co.uk
I then called Rundles on 08456 585030 and spoke to a really helpful staff member who asked me the name of the bailiff and sighed. She told me they have had a lot of calls recently from people being contacted by someone calling themselves Trevor Barrett and that they only worked for council tax and utility debt and to contact actionfraud as they couldn’t do much themselves, but they were sorry it had happened.
I called 101 again to register that someone purporting to be a bailiff might turn up at my door and they said don’t open it, get some ID and check the ID out (not that helpful) and turn them away. Then log it with actionfraud as well, if things get out of hand call 999.
I was pretty sure at this stage that Trevor was probably not on his way to take away 5k worth of my stuff, and the whole incident was getting very whiffy.
Trevor called back many, many times, after about 10 missed calls I answered and said I had just called Rundles to verify who he was, to which he said that he didn’t work for them, that was just the company he worked for when he got his bailiff licence. Trevor started to get agitated “I don’t know where you are going with this sir” got repeated a lot.
Trevor, completely out of character now start to get very pushy and aggressive with me, he couldn’t understand why I didn’t think paying would be a good idea.
We then had an argument when he said he was recording this call and would use it in court, I couldn’t help myself “you cant record this call, you have called me on your mobile”, he replied “yes you can, go to the menu and look for voice recorder, its there I tell you, you can”, so I asked if he would not send me a copy of the call so I could check if he had said he worked for Rundles or not.
I asked for a copy of all of my personal data (under GDPR), unfortunately he wasn’t up for that either, but he would email me the CCJ. He wouldn’t attach the call recording though or anything else.
He was right out of his character now, way out of his comfort zone and I think heard his shoulders slumping. “I don’t know where you are going with this sir, but I have done everything I can to help you, the bailiffs were on their way” and hung up.
That was a few hours ago now and I guess Trevor will be in bed, or looking through the books for the next person to ring, hoping that they get flustered and just pay… disgraceful
I want to say that I feel sorry for the real Trevor, who really is a bailiff and probably does a great job, I know that Rundles are also being affected and its a pity that the police aren’t in a position to offer more help.
If someone calls you saying that they are a bailiff (they wont, as far as we know they don’t call, so that’s a dead giveaway for a start) and start a telling a story, remind them that its all done in writing first off before they are even allowed to turn up at your door (7 days I think), not 30 minutes.
For more tips on dealing with real bailiffs https://www.gov.uk/your-rights-bailiffs
For dealing with or reporting fake ones who you think are fake https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/
I thought it would be worth mentioning that I looked carefully at the tapa.co.uk link that the above commenter posted, and it is my opinion that the services TAPA offer actually fall under what we would class as a scam. Yes. A supposed protection service for businesses that is itself a scam.
Just be careful when it comes to sites like those. They could very well be rackets designed to take advantage of people who already feel taken advantage of. The TAPA site itself looks unprofessional to me. Further research will reveal stories and anecdotes that raise reasonable concerns that should be ignored.
It’s 5 years later and they’re still operating, in exactly the same fashion. Glad I looked it all up before answering the second phone call from them. When I confronted her, she very swiftly said “I am so sorry you stumbled across that, we are dealing with this issue as we speak and you don’t have to do anything until you’ve seen and verified the stuff we’re posting to you”. How is this still going on???
Hi-I’m a journalist looking into this. Can you please contact me at: annajamescarter1987@gmail.com and I will immediately provide you with my real identity. Thanks. Anna
Was contacted yesterday by someone, caught me on the hop and i agreed in principle over the phone. received my email this morning thanking me and immediately checked them out and found this blog.
i have now emailed back stating i do not wish to be featured in the magazine and request they do not place my advert. I have not paid any money or given any artwork to them nor have they obtained any from a website/ social media site as my business doesn’t have one.
i rang CC and have logged my concerns with them. the lady i spoke to is passing on the details to the fraud department to look into.
Hopefully they accept my cancellation email and no magazine or invoice turns up, as i really don’t want the stress and hassle of fighting off debt collectors real or fake.
You did the right thing. I never phoned the CC, as I didn’t know you could, but the more complaints received, the better. This is not the first time I’ve gone up against fraudsters. They’ve been threatening me with court.
I’d relish the chance to say my piece to a judge with half a brain, frankly.
Do not worry about the cancellation issue. You have not signed anything, and you have your email correspondence as proof of cancellation.
In future, when people like this call me, I record their calls and make a transcript out of the conversation. That way I have everything on record to the letter.
I had this yesterday some guy rang me told me all about it didn’t want to pay the original price so he lowered it to £149 then had another local number ring an hour later confirming it all he used mobile number 07366246288 and local number was 01780 769639. Received email next day saying I had to pay £180 now for my design luckily I looked into it before I paid anything.
We have been had by this scam, we paid it as we didnt find this thread until now!! We genuinely thought it was to help poorly kids and once recieving the magazine we thought it was all legit! Is there anyway to claim the money back??
Report it to Action Fraud. There’s more chance of you getting the money back if you go through the proper channels. The police are onto this and I’ve been told to encourage more of you to report. It’s a bit of a bother to go through the reporting process but it’s more about the principle of what is happening here.
With today’s outcome from Merseyside police and the charities Commission. They will be up and running tomorrow with new directors and back to the same old scam. Again it will take some 18months to 2 years for them to be caught up with and cautioned. For it only to start all again. Be VIGILANT they still have all our details. !!
I have had an invoice and magazine sent to me for this.ive not paid them.
What action should I take?
Do not pay it!
Hi my husband has been using this company for awhile impressed design Ltd, we have just received the same magazine printed a year ago According to this, they are waiting for us to pay and said we will receive a 5% discount if we do this soon, how do I know if this is the real company or the scam
It’s all a scam, as far as I’m concerned
Sounds like these people are at it again.
Received a phone call this morning from a ‘John Shepherd’ from ‘Raising Smiles’ charity.
The Raising smiles have a website and looks legit. I imagine it’s registered as a charity as the other names had.
I was offered very similar deals, paying to be part of a magazine that would be circulated around.
Man sounds just like as described in the previous accounts here. Soft spoken, jovial and said “god bless” multiple times.
Keep spreading awareness.
I had the same call from raising smiles and agreed to an advert in their magazine, just received the copy and invoice in the post, my suspicions were raised by the quality or lack of it on the printing of some of the adds so I looked them up on line and came across these reviews, glad I did now, this charity has a total income of £4375, total expenditure of £4149 and employees salaries of over £60000, I might not be the brightest but the sums don’t add up.
The charity address also comes up as a mail drop shop.
the names involved in this case are Andrew Neil Barlow, Gaynor Evans and Lady Gaynor Bell.
Also there was no VAT number on their Invoice although they were charging VAT.
I will certainly not be paying this Invoice.
Thanks guys
My son has a small business and has recently been scammed by Raising Smiles and Best Solutions 4 U. I too have done some research and noted that Andrew Neil Barlow (listed as a trustee for Raising Smiles charity) is also listed as Director for RCP Media Ltd (with company status ‘dissolved – no longer trading’) – I wonder if this is the same RCP media company linked with Kids for Life earlier in the thread??
Thanks to this website, he has not paid the invoice £299+Vat, £358.80 – also with no VAT reg. details on Best Solutions invoice.
He is absolutely disgusted and will report to Action Fraud and the CC as well as circulate via his links with local crime prevention.
I have just had a call from Raising Smiles asking for local business support…so glad I came across this article! Exactly the same tone, very no pressure saying payment would only be after the printed copy was out and if we couldn’t afford it they would be flexible, lots of nicey nicey and “God bless”. Verbally agreed to get him off the phone but when “Impress Limited” called me a few minutes later I said after some googling I wouldn’t be proceeding, woman on the phone just said “ok then I’ll let Paul know”, didn’t question what I’d read online or why I was cancelling just hung up…
PLEASE STILL BE CAREFUL. Guy called Mark from Raising Smiles called me on Monday 10th May 2021 about this too. Evil people out there. Raising smiles mag is a scam. Hate to think how many have fallen for this 🙁 website looks legit but if you type their address in google it diverts to a post box.
We got suspicious after receiving the copy with our business ad. The other three ads were very vague a d not location specific. Couldn’t find them online either. This made me question it. Thankfully we found this article before paying any money. May 2021
17/06/21
Call from Kevin from Raising Smiles, very nearly got sucked in. I was sadly conned by the Business Force guys in my 1st year of business and today the guy said I had spoken to him before and I hadn’t been able to help as I had just taken out an ad with Business Force!! I have never spoken to anyone about Raising Smiles before so this made my awareness tingle. Number they used is 07591029444. So glad I did a Google and found this thread! I love to support charities and find it despicable that people would prey on those that want to support them, especially using kids with cancer as a cover! Disgusting! will be reporting
Scam going strong it seems. Cant recall the callers name but they definitely had a television voice. Number they called me on was 01296 768912 but I can’t find much under that. My senses were up that it was a scam so I politely requested more info via email and that I would peruse at my leisure and donate if I felt it was a good cause. Guy started saying thank you politely then hung up. Scum.
This scam is still going strong. I had a call today from a man who called from raising smiles. I was taken off guard as I was driving and it’s only after I came off the phone and googled and came across this website.
Thank goodness it hasn’t got any further. I have sent an email to say to cancel and to not contact me. Is this okay?
A couple of weeks ago I have been contacted by raising smiles. The magazine has arrived with a invoice over the weekend I will be reporting it to the police.
I’m looking at the magazine it has no substan to it I will not be paying them a penny. I fear it is a scam.
Yeah, nearly caught out on this one too.
Since getting the magazine and the invoice and seeing the quality of the adverts, the lack of any location information or any websites (who doesn’t have a website these days???). The HSBC and Sainsburys adverts would never, ever get signed off by these companies, the print doesn’t even go to the edges and is so low quality, you cant even read the small print on the HSBC one. Then there is the one from Courtaulds who apparently have 17,000 people in 45 countries….but don’t have a website or a phone number……AND the company name is spelt wrong in the copy of the advert too 🙂 Maybe it was an oversight, so google Courtaulds…..company was bought out 16 years ago and disbanded. Also notice how all of the so-called adverts are printed on the same page and then inserted into the magazine on the same leaf. Convenient eh!
I also got a text message a few days after saying that if I paid early I would get a discount……that set my alarm bells ringing. I thought this was for a charity – so surely they want to make as much money as possible, not give a discount?!?!?!?!?!?!?
Googlemap the head office – hmmmm!
I sent an email to the charity asking them to confirm they use Best Solutions – I got one back from GAYNOR BELL (thats right all capitals!) says yes and to please contact them, nothing about the charity, which charity doesn’t use any opportunity to spread the word about themselves anyway they can – unless she’s just not very good.
I’ve had multiple calls (I ignored them all, no longer answer numbers I don’t already know) and several emails (which all go to junk – that’s a good sign) and the last one states if I dont pay in 14 days my details will be sent to a debt collection agency….there was even a spelling mistake on that one too, brilliant – how difficult is it to spell check.
I can see how people would fall for it though – stay alert people!
Did the fake debt collectors ever actually contact you?
Not so far
As above,
contacted by ‘Jan’ from Raising smiles (tel: 07520642047) looking for local businesses to pay for an advert in their locally distributed magazine. Again, very friendly and convincing. I didn’t agree to anything, and said I’d call her back if I decided to go ahead.
Glad I came across this!
AVOID! Just called by Raising Smiles, wanted to go through all the details on the phone but when I asked for it in writing they couldn’t because she said she wasn’t tech savvy she was just a volunteer and then when I pressed she said she couldn’t because of cost to the charity but she could direct me to a website, I said yes but anyone could direct anyone in the world to any website in the world and say they are from there. She agreed with everything I said including that I had no proof it wasn’t a scam and that I knew people who had been done over she said ‘oh yes I know someone who that’s happened to, it’s awful!) after not giving in on written proof I ended the call .
The lady was very personable and older, just like talking to your nan, very cleaver operation and must be avoided at all costs!
Raising smiles keep sending me a bill for 354 have repeatdy sent letters and emailing and trying to call me.off 30 different numbers I have just screenshotted these scam comments and sent them over to them via email.telling them to fuck right off haha thanks everyone
As above really. I was in the process of paying but my bank didn’t recognise the sort code as coming from a “big” bank. I looked up the sort code and it comes from a start up bank. That got me thinking and I went back through the magazine. The Exxon and Tesco ads look to have been copied straight from the internet and the other adverts (all next to mine on one page) looked dubious to say the least. I take it Best Solutions are fake too? I look forward ignoring threats from imaginary debt collectors now
Have had my magazine, was the adverts next to mine that rung alarm bells. All spoof, mobile only numbers??? None existed. And yes the best solutions web page is all spoof companies too. Have looked up all addresses involved and find they are mailbox forwarding companies. Have saved everything i can find and compiled it in a doc in case anything happens. Invoice hasn’t got a VAT number either, even though they are charging VAT on the bill. I dont think anyone would pay a charity through a web design company anyway????
I wont be paying a penny either no matter what.
Got an email from Best Solutions today demanding immediate payment. I’m going to ignore it and see what happens from there
just had these guys on the phone – as above, sounded very likeable and professional – clearly total scammers – just said no and he said goodbye. their number was 07897 077118
I’ve just received an email from best solutions titled “Precursor to Legal Action”. I’m going to ignore this one too and see what happens next
Hi terry, Did they actually do anything???
Please accept my apologies for not updating. They did absolutely nothing after I ignored all the letters. A different company did call me to say that I had agreed to sponsor their charity (which I didn’t, have never had any contact with them at all) and after i explained that having been nearly scammed before this also sounds like a scam I had to be a lot more terse than I normally am before she stopped pressuring me. I now operate on the principle that if someone calls me asking for money in return for a service that I didn’t request I just hang up
They’re still at it!
Had a call from them asking if I wanted to advertise my business in their charity magazine – er no, my business has clearly been permanently closed for over a year.
Speaks volumes!
Be careful people. Absolute Scum.
Hi guys,
Just a quick one! Raising smiles contacted me over a week ago. They still are trying to scam people so please stay vigilant!!
When I read this I realised it is exactly what happened to my son in 2019. This time it was a company called Impress Designs Limited working on behalf of Kids for Life to produce a magazine and he was invited to advertise in it. He never received a copy of the magazine or indeed anything in the post. He paid half only. Having not heard from them since September 2019 he recently received a letter from a debt collecting company (which looks legitimate). I saw one mention of this publishing company in the comments form other people (sept 30th 2019). Has anyone else had a similar experience with them? My son is going to contest it with my help. Any thoughts on how best to go about this?
March 20th 2022
First off thank you for this website to whoever created it, you’ve just saved me some money
I got a call a week back (raising similes) verbally agreed, then when I got the magazine, I knew something was up. Locked myself for failing for it so I called them and told them I’m not paying and I know you’re running a scam
Emailed them saying I no longer want the art work and advertising
Just waiting for a call back
Another phone number to note for Raising Smiles – Alfie, on 07520 641180. I assume that they can get unlimited mobile numbers, but perhaps they re-use them a few times?
Same as Harry above.
The chap was very charming, “I’m just a volunteer – I don’t know about the business side” was the response to anything I asked pertaining to money/payments. I knew something was off when they said this phone call counts as your accepting our invoice, serious pressure selling when you’re up a ladder.
I just received their text message saying pay within 48 hours for a 5% discount. I’m livid about this… Caught me off guard which is my fault, but to use kids (I’ve got a 15 month old so really hit my soft spot) has made my blood boil…
I won’t be paying. I’m sure I’m in for a very convincing campaign of threats to try & make me, but if they’re legit they can argue with me infront of a magistrate.
Thank you for this blog, shocking that they can get away with it repeatedly.
I had the call in 2019 and said I’d agree so long as the advert looks good. Received the booklet and as someone who’s worked in the private t industry alarm bells rang. No detail, stock images, no company details and the adverts are printed on a terrible quality printer and stuck inside the booklet. This was amateur at best, main booklet clearly printed in bulk and advert pages are stuck in on an individual basis for the purpose of trying to generate several hundreds of pounds per cheap print out.
I phoned action fraud. They recorded it and said not to answer or get in contact and that i definitely shouldnt send any money.
I had a letter from debt recovery, company seemed like a fake so I ignored as per action fraud requests.
Fast forward to this year, I had a letter from a solicitor chasing it up, with added fees. Solicitors has a website quickly knocked up. 30 years of experience in corporate cases supposedly. Checking further no reviews, lacking contact details and the company is registered in a housing estate in Wales. 30 years leaves an online trail. This company had nothing. Another scam.
I’ve just received a phone call from 07868783954 telling me they’re from best solutions and willing to offer a 40% discount on the outstanding amount. I said no, that I’ve reported them as a scam and that action fraud told me not to communicate with them. She said I’ll get my day in court then. Should be fun. Given the level of ineptitude so far I’m convinced this will be a “court” made from a mcdonalds happy meal box with plastic Lego men as staff.
Got some more phone numbers.
07868783954 This will put you through to jan
07897077118 This is their main call center line. They dont have adequate spam protection on this number and it auto answers. After 50 calls today (which they couldnt block) they finally took me seriously when asking for gdpr. My original recording of the “phone sale” was lost and couldnt be sent and they put me through to andrew.
07861 802837 This comes up as force solutions. It’s actually the number to put you straight through to Andrew Barlow. He’s running the scam and has 2 ladies in his office.
Raising smiles, best solutions and the debt collection company are all based in this same room along with the legal firm. 4 businesses under one roof! 😛
I didn’t pretend to be a nice guy, i let my other side show a bit. After a bit of a chat about how this is a scam and i’m having great fun pissing them off and how excited i was for this to go to court so i could laugh at them andrew offered to “put the matter to rest” and casually waived several hundred pounds of “debt”. Andrew seemed particularly concerned when i let his middle name casually slip into the conversation when i was double checking i was speaking to the right person. “i never told you my middle name”, no you didn’t andrew. You never told me your address either, i really should have dropped that one on you to really hear the panic in your voice get worse.
Stand your ground, tell them theres no point chasing and they’ll move on. Theyve broken so many laws nothing is going to court and if you’re firm they back down very quickly 😀 Stay safe out there folks.
My Misses had a letter showing from “DRC Debt Services” signed by “E Bailey Enforcement officer claiming she needed to pay for her addition in their magazine for “Kids for Life” and threatening her with court and a county court junction..
Calling them on the phone (07868783954) They are extremely rude and disrespectful especially after i called them out about their scams after researching about “Impress designs”, We’re so glad we found this blog post. They won’t be getting a single penny.
How do we go about reporting them and getting them finally stopped?
i have just read this and glad i did…. they sent me a proof today to approve and get done….. thnaks for the heads up. just emailed them and said i want it cancelled
if you don’t sign anything via email then they surely cant ‘contract you to it’ ???
ive emailed them and told them to cancel as i know its a scam and that the only time ive emailed them.
lets wait and see what comes of it …
Hi, I got a call from Raising Smiles last week and verbally agreed to placing an advert but something didn’t feel right after they sent the artwork through today via Best Solutions. I did some googling and came across this article. I’ve emailed back saying I don’t want to place the advert and awaiting a response.
I almost got conned by these idiots in September. Luckily I realised before parting with any money. I rang the Charities Commission who were really not interested – in fact told me that I couldn’t go round pointing fingers so basically these people have the full backing of CC! I’ve reported to Action Fraud. I’m now at the Pre Cursor to legal action stage. Your comments and information have made me feel much better and stopped doubting myself. Bring it on Raising Smiles…..
Well done for continuing to expose these shabby crooks. Amazes me that they’re still there, operating via the corner shop in Greater Manchester. The chain of comments from my original post on my website (“Potters, don’t be Mugs”) stretched to around 200. Sadly, when I had the site redesigned, it was on a different platform, and I lost the lot. I took part in a programme for You and Yours (4 years after I first approached them in 2014), and I’m about to take part in a TV programme which will be looking at Mr Ager’s long list of variations on this scam. No one should be intimidated by Ager, Parker, Law or the rest of the gang. They haven’t a leg to stand on legally. If they do name a law firm, check that firm out. It’ll be a similar cut and paste job of cliches and stock photographs.
They’re still at it.
Can’t believe I almost fell for it myself!
Current numbers are 07418 376161 and 07418 376160. Still calling themselves Raising Smiles and still using best-solutions.uk with no explanation of how the two are connected.
Artwork is still shody as hell, but I’m thankful for that as it’s what got me digging a bit deeper. Thankfully I haven’t parted with any money yet and nor will I, but I dread to think how many people actually have :(.
This Scam with Raising Smiles and Best Solutions is still going. I fell for it in March and when asked to do another round of advertising I checked checked the charity commission to see what they were and its appalling. Scamming shell vehicle charity where all income pays the directors/trustees expenses or salaries. Total charitable expenditure was only £1,597 in July 2022 accounts – shocking why the charity Commission cannot shut them down. Now have new Trustees – Kevin Obrien, Michaela Tottley and Gary Oliver.
Everyone, I just had a call from someone calling himself David Taylor. He told me that he’s from a Glasgow court and that someone has been advertising in a magazine in my name, and that officers are going to be confronting me in 30 minutes.
Apparently I would have a CCJ against my name for 6 years and blah blah blah.
It was clearly a scare tactic and the number he called from was 07553 417 720
David (or whoever the hell you are), I would very much like to get in the kickboxing ring with you.
I to had a phonecall back in 2020 by raising smiles, and was given a charming story from a guy (can’t recall name) but he mentioned about having my business advertised in a magazine for ill children , I never agreed to it but 3 years later I’m now getting text and emails saying they have a CCJ against me and to pay in 5 days, the email they sent just looks like a quick mock up piece of crap, it didn’t sit right with me, so I called a citizens advice to get they’re advice on it, who then told me to call the debt collectors who are called DRC I did alot of digging around and even website looks suspicious, I have not recieved one official letter about debt through my door (they have my address!) just a random text and an email.
It’s funny because yesterday I rang drc and told them I couldn’t afford to pay and what hell am I paying for because I never agreed to anything, not signed anything .the lady on phone got very defensive and I then hung up because she was saying she csnt help and that I need pay in full and they don’t accept installments (months debt collectors) from past experience so allow this) again massive red flag!
I called best solutions who magically knew who I was even though I never mentioned who I was! She immediately said she can’t give me any info or help me as its already been taken to court apparently. So my best guess is they are all running from same building or room as each other! Bells didn’t start ringing until I came across this thread and thought about what this lady had said. I’m ignoring any phonecalls or messages now as there is no way over my dead body I will be parting with any money.
Irs upsetting because I’m a vulnerable person who suffers with severe mental health so you can probably imagine just how stressful this is. I sent drc the shittest email about how they think it’s OK to target someone with mental health in the way they have done. Absolute scum bags of the earth.
I’m going to see where this goes from here, any more advice anyone can give me would be appreciated!!
2 Years after the first Scam, which i never paid, they phoned again. Completely oblivious that they had tried and failed before, same guy but different patter, same scam though. Number was 07418 379610. I just said send it all in email/writing so i could look over it, which they didnt want to do. I guess they will be phoning again….. i will be ready with the recording software.
This issue began in 2022. I received a phone call from a company called Best Solutions, who explained that my small business could be featured in a charity magazine called Raising Smiles. I expressed potential interest and sent them some pictures of my business. They subsequently emailed me a mock-up of how it would look in the magazine. However, I decided I was no longer interested and chose not to respond. No agreement was signed or confirmed. Despite this, I later received a dubious-looking magazine in the post that featured my business, even though I had not agreed to participate or signed any agreement. Fast forward to later in 2022, I began receiving notices claiming I owed Best Solutions £238.80. Upon researching, I discovered that the Raising Smiles charity is associated with this scam. At no point did I agree to donate or pay money to be featured in the magazine. Today, 11th December 2024, I have received a text and email from a debt collection company, Apex Management Solutions (which I cannot find any reliable information about) claiming I owe Best Solutions £238.80. They have also added fees, bringing the total to £403.80. The message warns that legal action will be taken if I do not pay within seven days. Neither Best Solutions nor Apex Management Solutions respond to emails or phone calls, and I am unable to find any credible information about either company.
Today, Wednesday 18th December 2024, Apex Management Solutions have sent me another text and bogus email stating i will be getting summoned to Shoreditch County Court London. Stating if i do not pay £568.80 in 5 days I will get CCJ. I have not received any letters to my home address. I have also reported to action fraud and the police.