THE ENNISKILLEN public has been praised for its vigilance after local people helped spot a man believed to have been fraudulently collecting for a Fermanagh charity.
On Monday, people in the county town noticed a man claiming to be collecting for local charity Cancer Connect NI on the Wellington Road. This man had no identification on him, and the charity later confirmed he was not collecting on its behalf.
“Thank you all for your vigilance and the speedy alerts today regarding the male collecting money in the name of Cancer Connect on the bridge leading to the Erneside Shopping Centre,” said a charity spokesman. “This information enabled the PSNI to respond immediately.”
Police have confirmed they are investigating the incident following several reports received on Monday this week (November 28th), and noted the man fled the scene before officers arrived.
“Observant members of the public realised that the man had no identification and contacted both the charity concerned and police. When the man was alerted to this, he made off prior to police arrival,” said Sgt Laird.
“He is described as approximately 5ft 11 in – 6ft tall with medium length dark brown hair and a dark brown beard. He was wearing a blue raincoat and grey tracksuit bottoms and had a southern accent.”
Sgt Laird urged the public to continue to be vigilant coming up to Christmas, “We know that local people are very generous, particularly during the festive season, and would like to remind them that charities always need to be registered and have a license if they’re collecting in a public place.
“If you have any doubt as to whether a collection is genuine, tell the collector you’ll donate directly to the charity yourself and report the matter to police or Action Fraud via www.actionfraud.police.uk.”
Anyone who has any information on the man who was collecting on Monday, or who may have any other information that could help police with the investigation, is asked to contact 101, quoting reference number 935 of 28/11/22
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