SickKids Victimized by Donation Box Scam

By Marc Lostracco

The real thing (left), and the fakery. Photos courtesy of the Toronto Police.

SickKids is one of those organizations where you see humans at their best, but as with everything, it doesn’t take long for some jerk to come along and demonstrate our species at its opportunistic worst. When fraudulent donation canisters started popping up in malls and restaurants, masquerading as a project of the SickKids Foundation, a special place was immediately reserved in hell for the selfish shitheads behind the scheme.
The Toronto Police Fraud Squad says that the telephone number on the fake canisters is unrelated to the real SickKids Foundation, and that store managers and employees shouldn’t be allowing the installation of any donation box without checking credentials. Legitimate donation boxes are made from cardboard, are die-cut, and are well-printed, with sharp text and vibrant colour. The fraudulent labels seem to be created with a colour printer and taped to the can, although they would look genuine to most people.
Point-of-sale donation boxes are designed to collect excess customer change, but we’d recommend skipping them altogether to donate right at the source—because some self-serving prick always has to come along and ruin things for everybody else. Happy holidays!