Londoners warned over scam where children claim they are raising money for boxing gyms

Londoners have reported children are attempting to scam them by asking for money, claiming they’re raising funds for a boxing gym. The chairman of London Boxing, Lenny Hagland, said that gyms across the capital have been named in these scams, and they're losing out on money which people believe is going to charity.

Mr Hagland, who is also the CEO of Islington Boxing Club, said that his club does not raise money in the way these children say it does. They reportedly approach passers-by or commuters, claiming they're raising money for a club by doing something like a sponsored run. The alleged scammers have been spotted in Canary Wharf, Regent’s Street, Oxford Street, on trains and in Islington itself.

Mr Hagland thinks this scam has been going on for “at least ten” years, “minimum”. He has snapped a picture of one of the fundraising sheets allegedly used by scammers, which appears to have the Islington logo at the top.

The scam could offer the children an easy way to make money by exploiting people’s generosity and using the name of a recognised boxing club to make their claims seem legitimate

Mr Hagland also posts about it on his club’s Facebook page to try to warn people. “It’s a problem we really don’t know how to get rid of,” he said. “We put it out as much as possible, but it’s impossible really. It’s hard work to let everybody know because you tell a hundred people - the next thousand people don’t know.”

He estimates the children are aged between 11 and 15. Mr Hagland thinks they target his club because it’s well known and people are likely to have heard of it. He said there is “no doubt” that “it has affected what money we get from charitable donations”.

Mr Hagland said that Islington isn’t the only club that’s suffered from the scam. He continued: “If people are giving £10, £20 to these boys, that’s £10 or £20 they aren’t likely to give to us if we do go fundraising. Our fundraising is done differently. We are a registered charity, that’s probably another reason they use us as well.”

He has confronted the boys himself on occasion. “It’s a group of boys, it must be, because it’s not [always] the same kids,” he said. Mr Hagland encouraged those who want to donate to the amateur boxing clubs supported by London Boxing to give “directly rather than indirectly”.

He said: “It’s not just a thing about Islington, although we hear it quite a bit since they have used our name quite a few times. They take the logo, club logo, from the internet, put it as a header, say they're doing a run or whatever sponsorship and they go to the streets and start doing it.”

Responding to the claim that this scam is being carried out, a British Transport Police (BTP) spokesperson said: “This type of activity is prohibited on the TfL network and we take any such reports seriously. The public are encouraged to report events like these that they see on rail services to us. Our discreet text service 61016 is ideal for this. When we receive reports, we can take action to disrupt as well as deter future occurrences.”

A TfL spokesperson said: "Customers should be able to travel on the transport network without fear of intimidation, harassment or fraudulent activity.

"We encourage customers to report any behaviour that makes them feel uncomfortable to a member of staff or to the police.”

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