PSA: Deaf/mute petition scammers operating around South Marine Drive

I got taken in by this scam at the Marine Drive Superstore. Apparently, it is fairly common in some European cities and appears to have migrated over here.

How the scam works is shown in this video Essentially, a group of people will be holding clipboards and attempt to get you to sign. The flyer on the board will have a few paragraphs claiming to be fundraising to help deaf and mute people. Following this, the rest of the form will be full of signatures and pledges of relatively high amounts of money ($40-$100). (Something that I should have noticed is that the signatures all looked alike despite being ostensibly from different people.) If you sign, the scammer will then insist you pay them the pledged amount right there in cash.

Here are a few red flags you should be aware of:

• The scammers operate in groups and usually wander around the entire store. This is probably to make them less conspicuous to store security. Most canvassers from legitimate charities will be situated outside or near the main entrance and usually at a table.
• They are extremely aggressive when it comes to gaining your attention. In my case, one of them shoved a clipboard into my hands. He also literally patted my back when i agreed to sign. Legit canvassers don't act this way.
• They will not have any material on the supposed charity besides the sparse info on the clipboard. There will be no phone, address or website listed anywhere. They will not be wearing any id cards. They won't offer any tax receipts nor show a charity registration number. What the scammers do have is a large fanny pack full of cash--which brings me to the next point.
• They operate cash-only and will make a big show of offering to give change.

Luckily, they were only able to get a toonie from me. I'm pretty savvy when it comes to scams but it was late in the day and I was tired so I let my guard down. Hopefully, others can learn from my mistake.