African Polio Organisation - Scam?

I get stickers through my letterbox all the time asking for unwanted clothes to be left for collection. Today's sticker was from the "African Polio Organisation (APO)".

Here's some contact details on the sticker and what I found:

1. [broken link removed]
This site is not accessible.

2. Phone 0851 700 057
I get a recorded message saying this number cannot be reached.

3. Email [email protected]
I'm not going to chance sending an email to 'them'.

There is no charity number listed, etc.

I did see the woman who put the sticker through my letter box and asked her not to do so again as I put all unwanted clothes into ST. Vincent De Paul skips. If I see her again I ask some questions.

Has anyone heard of this organisation? I just don't want to see clothes go to scams instead of worthy charities. If they are a credible organisation I would be very surprised!

This is the whois for the website, maybe our techies can interpret for us.

At least you have his phone number, assuming it is genuine: +234.8055066724. Even if it is genuine, there is no guarantee that the collectors you met have any connection with africa polio.

Am I being racist when I immediately connect Lagos with a scam? If you google 'Ikeja street lagos scam' you get 7230 hits, a lot of them very interesting!

The reality is that most of these are scams though, there's a serious money in the rag business nowadays and the easiest way to get your hands on clothes by the ton is to drop leaflets into houses.

WHOIS INFORMATION:

Domain ID D142770638-LROR
Domain Name:AFRICANPOLIO.ORG
Created On:02-Apr-2007 14:06:45 UTC
Last Updated On:19-Nov-2008 16:07:35 UTC
Expiration Date:02-Apr-2009 14:06:45 UTC
Status:OK
Registrant ID DI_3114125
Registrant Name:Alex Charles
Registrant Organization:N/A
Registrant Street1:Ikeja
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Ikeja
Registrant State/Province:Lagos
Registrant Postal Code:23401
Registrant Country:NG
Registrant Phone:+234.8055066724
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Admin ID: DI_3114125
Admin Name:Alex Charles
Admin Organization:N/A
Admin Street1:Ikeja
Admin Street2:
Admin Street3:
Admin City:Ikeja
Admin State/Province:Lagos
Admin Postal Code:23401
Admin Country:NG
Admin Phone:+234.8055066724
Admin Phone Ext.:
Admin FAX:
Admin FAX Ext.:
Tech ID: DI_3114125
Tech Name:Alex Charles
Tech Organization:N/A
Tech Street1:Ikeja
Tech Street2:
Tech Street3:
Tech City:Ikeja
Tech State/Province:Lagos
Tech Postal Code:23401
Tech Country:NG
Tech Phone:+234.8055066724
Tech Phone Ext.:
Tech FAX:
Tech FAX Ext.:
Name Server:NS1.CPANELMACHINE.COM
Name Server:NS2.CPANELMACHINE.COM

Lollix said:

Am I being racist when I immediately connect Lagos with a scam?

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Not all all, that's good info you've provided. You should be working for the Gardai!

Similar companies used to give free binbags, it was great!
Now they just give stickers

sad thing is that legitimate Charities are losing out on much needed revenue cause clothes and other items are going to fake charities.

On the plus side i always get a laugh out of some of the vagueness on the stickers

'unwanted clothes for poor Africans'
'donations go to help poor people in Ukraine'

Lollix said:

Am I being racist when I immediately connect Lagos with a scam?

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Not at all. Basically, Lagos is one of the most corrupt cities on the planet.

bamboozle said:

sad thing is that legitimate Charities are losing out on much needed revenue cause clothes and other items are going to fake charities.

On the plus side i always get a laugh out of some of the vagueness on the stickers

'unwanted clothes for poor Africans'
'donations go to help poor people in Ukraine'

Click to expand...

I think for a lot of people its a handy way of moving on old junk or unwanted (too tight) clothes and the moral aspect of is it really going to a charity doesn't really come into it.

The "Buyer Beware" programme on RTE recently covered this topic very well - clothes are being sold by the kilogram to the rag trade in Eastern Europe.

The collectors are also breaking into the clothes banks and taking the contents, so the authentic charities are losing even more donations.

At this stage, I throw all of these stickers into the bin and bring donations directly to the charity shop(s).

gipimann said:

At this stage, I throw all of these stickers into the bin and bring donations directly to the charity shop(s).

Click to expand...

That is exactly what I do also. It is sickening to think that genuine charities are losing out to these scam artists.

MrMan said:

I think for a lot of people its a handy way of moving on old junk or unwanted (too tight) clothes and the moral aspect of is it really going to a charity doesn't really come into it.

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Some of those dodgy clothes collectors usually dump items that they cannot sell. The original owners of the dumped items run the risk of being charged with illegal dumping if any of those dumped items can be traced back to them.