Door-to-door chocolate bar scam reported in Niagara Falls ON

A reader from Niagara Falls ON has responded to Ed.'s note appended to "Help Kids Canada - a scam or only half a scam?", reposted here on September 3rd. He writes:

Funny you should mention that! It's been years since I was button-holed at the mall or at my front door by a waif selling chocolate bars, but today I was awakened from my afternoon nap by the insistent (three times!) ring of the door bell. 

No, it wasn't the Avon lady, but a young woman -- mid- to late twenties, I'd say -- wearing long pants and a jacket, rather warm for the weather. "Hello, I'm Hanna, from the neighbourhood," she said, with a South American accent. "My sister broke her violin and I'm selling chocolate bars to help her."

She then opened the zipper on a canvas bag to show a couple of dozen of the familiar long chocolate, the same as I remembered seeing before. Still half-asleep, I didn't have the presence of mind to ask to see the product, or ask any questions. I just closed the door in her face. Yeah, I'm rude when you wake me up!

Thinking about it now, I'd give odds that this is the same old scam that's been on the go for years. As Pierre Berton wrote in The Big Sell, they sell the story, not the product, to appeal to good-hearted people who wouldn't refuse to support a charity. Too bad it's not a real charity.

Ed. found this photo (and many like it) on the Net and e-mailed it to our reader who confirms that the chcocalate bars he saw were long and thin, like these.

Have any other readers had similar experiences recently? Click on the headline to open the comments window and let us know about it.

Help Kids Canada - a scam or only half a scam?

NOTE FROM ED., added 3/9/25. More than 15 years after it was posted, this remains one of Walt's most-read posts, so we're adding this note and reposting it now. 

We assume this scam is still being played, as "Help Kids Canada" or "Kare for Kids", somewhere in Canada or possibly the US of A. If  any reader can give us some details or link to a news report or other source, we would really appreciate it. Click on the headline to open the comments box, and leave your tip there. Thank you! 

Agent 3 complains of being roused from his Saturday siesta by a knock at the door from a teenage boy who said he was "from Help Kids Canada". He was peddling chocolate bars (since the Girl Scouts have the monopoly on cookies) and suggested that Agent 3 was a bad bastard for not supporting this worthy charity.

Agent 3, being something of a cynic [When he's cooking, is he a kitchen cynic? ed.] asked the boy if he could prove that Help Kids Canada is in fact a registered charity. The boy appealed to his "supervisor", who just happened to be driving by in a white van, who said yes, it is so, and here's the registration number for all who want proof.

Now munching on his chocolate bar, Agent 3 asks Walt if this is true, and why a reputable charity would be selling candy bars door to door. Here is what Walt found out.

Help Kids Canada is a registered charity. Where the kid and his supervisor lie is when they say that they represent or work for HKC. They do not. Here's the truth of the relationship between the chocolate sellers and the charity, according to the latter's website as it existed in July of 2010, when Walt's report was first published.

The supervisors and the kids who are selling chocolates are not employed by our organization.Their connection to our charity is that they support our organization by donating the net proceeds from the chocolate sales to Help Kids Canada. By "net proceeds" we mean what is left after the cost of chocolates and the cost of distribution, including the cost of transportation, personal expenses and payments to the kids, are deducted from their gross proceeds.

So there you have it. Those poor scrawny kids who knock at your door are being paid, but the people really making the money are their supervisors. (Agent 3 says the gal in the van was absolutely porcine.) It's very much a for-profit business. If there happens to be anything left, they give a little to the charity, and get a tax receipt for so doing.

It's a nice cozy arrangement for all concerned...except Agent 3 and others who get conned into paying a high price for a rather mediocre chocolate bar, all because they thought they were helping some poor kids.

Help Kids Canada scam back under new name(s)?

Long-time readers may remember that Walt has been writing since April of 2010 (!) about the activities of a dubious "charity" which calls itself "Help Kids Canada" and/or "Kare for Kids". See "Help Kids Canada - a scam or only half a scam?", WWW 10/4/10, and "'Help Kids Canada', 'Kare for Kids' -- still out there?", WWW 14/6/16. These two posts have received literally 1000s of hits and numerous comments, mostly in the summer when the weather is nice and they send kids out into the streets to sell cheap chocolate bars to the philanthropically minded.

Just yesterday, Walt received and published not one but two comments from readers, presumably in Canada, alerting us to another questionable charity, which they think may be run by the same scam artists.
Anonymous wrote: "I may be wrong but the same address and number belong to Disabled Veteran Support Canada. Being a veteran we strongly believe this is a scam organization. They are set up in Ontario but set tables at Sobeys, Walmart, etc in other provinces (New Brunswick and Nova Scotia)."
Gail Silva added: "They are now operating as Disabled Veterans Support Canada and Rainbow Seniors Support Canada. They canvass door-to-door and set up tables in grocery and liquor stores. Right now they have a presence in Nova Scotia. They have a website and are registered with CRA but there's very limited information on exactly where the money is going. Every time I check their websites info is deleted or changed."

Walt doesn't have a huge staff of investigative journalists to ferret out the truth [Like CNN? LMAO. Ed.] but asked Agent 3 to do a little checking. As regards the address, the Kare for Kids website gives their address as:
7 Bishop Avenue, Suite 2107, Toronto, Ontario, M2M 4J4, CANADA. That part of Toronto is also known as "North York". The address is that of a residential condominium, not an office building, half a block east of a part of Yonge Street occupied mainly by shops and businesses, such as carpet stores, run by people of Middle Eastern origin -- Lebanese, Egyptian, Syrian etc. You know the type I mean.

Just around the corner and a couple of blocks north on Yonge Street, not far from the Iranian Plaza (really), is 6021 Yonge Street, which turns out to be a UPS store. Among other services, the UPS store will be pleased to rent you a mailbox, which gives you an address like: 6021 Yonge Street, Suite 323, North York, ONT M2M 3W2. "Suite 323" makes it sound like an office on the third floor of a tower block, but really it's just a mailbox. That address turned up in a thread on an Internet forum: "Beware buyer using address: 6021 Yonge Street Ste#323, North York, ONT M2M3W2, CANADA". (That was a dispute about "molded carpet kits", whatever they are.)

A similar address -- 6021 Yonge Street, Suite 811, Toronto, ON M2M 3W2 -- appears on the websites of... wait for it... Disabled Veterans Support Canada and Rainbow Seniors Support, the "charities" mentioned by our doubtful readers!

If you check out the websites, you will see that besides the address, the two "charities" share a phone number -- 416-733-7691. Neither of the sites offers any of the information that a legitimate charity should disclose: directors, officers, staff list, finances. They just ask for your money for such things as hiring entertainers to perform at senior citizens homes.

Rainbow Seniors Support claims to have been operating since 1996, and provides a "charitable registration number": 88909 2565 RR0001. Since it was Saturday, Agent 3 was unable to verify the number or Rainbow's status with the Canada Revenue Agency (the Canuck equivalent of the IRS). It's interesting, though, that Disabled Veterans Support Canada doesn't claim to be a registered charity. Rather, its website says: "DVSC is a division of Rainbow Seniors Support. Registered Charity Number: 88909 2565 RR0001".

That's as far as Agent 3 was able to get yesterday. Other than addresses in the same "Little Levant" neighbourhood, I can't make any connection between Help Kids/Kare for Kids and Disabled Veterans Support/Rainbow Senior Support, but they look dodgy to me. I have suggested to him, and advise you, dear Canadian reader, to contact a media outlet such as the CBC or the Globe and Mail with your concerns. Use the comments box to let us know what happens.

"Help Kids Canada", "Kare for Kids" -- still out there?

Ed. keeps track of who's reading what, and noticed a lot of hits yesterday on "Help Kids Canada - a scam or only half a scam?". Originally posted in April of 2010, this story has had amazingly long "legs" -- as they say in the trade -- with regular reports of teens and even pre-teens hawking chocolate bars outside of liquor stores and supermarkets, and even door-to-door.

As Walt told you over six years ago, their pitch -- that they were raising funds for a registered charity helping kids in trouble -- was doubtful at best. Back then there was a charity called Help Kids Canada, which had a website, www.helpkidscanada.ca. But the waifs who knocked on your door or accosted you in the mall parking lot didn't work for Help Kids Canada. Noooo. They worked for independent contractors who were, errr, selling crappy candy at inflated prices. The money went into the entrepreneurs' pockets, except for any pittance they felt minded to send to HKC.

Questions have been asked about a charity named "Kare for Kids" -- sometimes "Kare for Kids Canada", sometimes "Kare for Kids International" -- which has been reported as using similar methods. Their website, still working, says "KARE FOR KIDS INTERNATIONAL is a Canadian non-profit organization dedicated to improve the quality of life of disadvantaged children suffering from malnutrition, injuries, deformities or birth defects." The address given for its head office is: 7 Bishop Avenue, Suite 2107, Toronto, Ontario, M2M 4J4, CANADA. That part of Toronto is also known as "North York".

On April 9th of this year, "tammy cake" added a comment Walt's post, as follows: "The CRA website kare for kids licence has been revoked. My nephew sells chocolates for Help Kids Canada ....if the charity they were working for is closed where are the proceeds going?? I asked what percentage do they take from his hard work he told me 75 percent!!?!!! Unbelievable...he is out there working his butt off for what?? There needs to be an investigation done. The website that he provided me with www.helpkidscanada.ca does not exist."

Early this morning, I searched "Kare for Kids" on the Canada Revenue Agency list of registered charities and found this:

So, dear readers, if you're approached on the street or at your door by youngsters claiming to be raising funds for a worthy charity, you know what to tell them. And since there's an element of misrepresentation, if not outright fraud here, you might consider notifying Inspector Knacker.

ED. EXPLAINS HOW TO COMMENT: Walt still gets e-mails from folks wanting to know how to open the comments box. It's simple. If you're on the landing page -- as you most certainly will be because we don't ask you to "click to read more" -- just click on the headline of the post you're interested in, and it will open in a separate window, complete with comments box at the bottom. You're welcome.

High-pressure chocolate bar sales "charity" now in Québec

Looks like someone has researched the Help Kids Canada scam -- mentioned in the summer of 2013 in "Chocolate for charity scam still operating?" and "14-year-old selling chocolate bars victim of sexual assault" -- and figured if it worked in English-speaking Canada, it would work in francophone Canada as well.

Let us welcome into the highly competitive world of chocolate bar sales a Québec-based company called Ado-Boulot. That's who you call, their website says (in French, of course) if you want a successful fundraising campaign to raise money for your charity.

According to a report from Montréal on CBC News, Ado-Boulot, in addition to fundraising for non-profits, does a fair bit of selling for its own account.

The company's website says it donates a part of the sale proceeds -- how big a part is not specified -- to a registered charity called la Fondation d’Adolescents en Difficulté du Québec (FAD). Ado-Boulot also says it helps pay for activities for its teenage employees,including field trips to water slides or La Ronde, and that it organizes humanitarian trips to Cuba and other countries.

A quick look at FAD's website makes Walt wonder if there is any connection between FAD and Ado-Boulot other than using the same web designer. For instance... could it be that Ado-Boulot is using Help Kids Canada's sales scripts? CBC Montréal Investigates says a local mother is raising questions about the sales techniques taught by the company to teens selling chocolate bars door to door.

The tactics include "suggesting" that good-hearted people -- read "suckers" -- buy “two, four, eight or even ten of the five-buck bars to encourage the kids. And they're told to place two chocolate bars into the hands of a potential, rather than just one, to suggest that two is the minimum which any caring person would buy.

But what if the customer has diabetes? The script used by Ado-Boulot says the proper response to that objection is "I understand, sir or ma’am, that you’re diabetic but you could offer it to one of your loved ones."

Even if FAD is real, even if Ado-Boulot helps to fund it, the tactics are still pretty hard-sell. Just like Help Kids Canada.

14-year-old selling chocolate bars victim of sexual assault

Agent 3 sends us a short story from Hamilton, Ontario.

A Niagara Falls man is facing sex charges following an investigation by Hamilton Police involving a 14-year-old.

Police said the investigation looked into complaints said to have occurred between May 2012 and February 2013 when the teen was selling chocolate bars door-to-door and in parking lots in the Hamilton area.

Charged with sexual assault, sexual interference and uttering threats is Maged Younes, 33, of Niagara Falls.

The article in the QMI papers doesn't say who the teen victim was working for, but Len would be prepared to be a chocolate bar that it was Help Kids Canada. See "Chocolate for charity scam still operating?" The answer appears to be "yes".

Also not clear from the story is how the girl could have been assaulted by the same person over the course of ten months. Is it possible the perp was the kid's "manager"?

Another innocent question: What is the accused's immigration status in Canada?

Anyone with further information is asked to call Hamilton police at 905-546-3854.

Chocolate for charity scam still operating?

Summer has come, yea, even to the Great Not-so-white North. During Ontario's summer season (July 20th through 27th), a particular pest crawls out of the woodwork to accost people at the shopping malls -- in front of the LCBO seems a likely spot -- and knock on their front doors.

Yes, dear Canajan readers, I refer to the waifs peddling chocolate bars (made in Poland) for Help Kids Canada, a questionable "charity" first exposed here in "Help Kids Canada - a scam or only half a scam?". That very short article has had more "hits" than just about anything Walt has posted, except maybe for the Swazi girls!

I mention it again because Agent 3 has just brought to my attention a much longer story which appeared in the Guelph Mercury four months later. The headline reads: "Unwrapping a charity's chocolate bar: Kare for Kids president says controversial agency benefits all stakeholders".

Some excellent work by the paper's investigative reporter reveals that Help Kids Canada and Kare for Kids are one and the same -- parts of "an Independent Chocolate Marketing Network" run out of a condo in downtown Toronto.

They wholesale the chocolate bars to distributors who recruit "managers" who recruit kids -- some apparently pre-teens -- to peddle the goods at the malls and door-to-door. If any money is left over after "expenses", it gets donated to charity. At least, that's what the promoter in charge told the Mercury.

If you've been pestered by the chocolate-pushers, or if you've worked for this "charity", we'd like to hear from you. Please post a comment!

White scamming and black shooting in Ontariariario

In spite of Walt's warnings, people are still buying chocolate bars from kids claiming the money goes to Help Kids Canada. We have a new comment today from someone in Kitchener who got conned, and Agent 3 reports being solicited in front of his bank by a girl of about 12 with braces on her teeth. She was lucky Agent 3 is not a dirty old man! [He's a dirty young man! Ed.]

Folks... the people who implore you to buy their chocolate bars do not work for Help Kids Canada. They are being "run" by managers or supervisors who are independent contractors, not employed by Help Kids Canada. Their business is selling chocolate bars. Period. This information comes from the Help Kids Canada website. As today's anonymous commenter said, it's hard to believe that the little waifs pushing the bars don't know what they're doing.

Elsewhere, what passes in Canada for a "big apple" -- talkin' `bout Toronto, folks -- had its fourth gunshot fatality in as many nights, in Lawrence Heights, a neighbourhood filled with "community housing". All four shootees were Jamaican, or should we say "Jamaican-Canadians". The shooters remain at large.

Also yesterday, in Pickering (also a part of the so-called Greater Toronto Area), a 17-year-old yoof was shot by the Old Bill (= police, for those who don't speak British English) while using a replica gun in an attempt to stick up a veterinary clinic. The poor at-risk yoof is black, but which island he came from is not known as of this writing.

What makes Walt laugh is that Toronto's mayor, Buffalo Bob Ford, and police chief, Old Bill Bliar, keep saying these are "isolated incidents", and that Toronto is a really really safe city, not at all like, say, Detroit. Four dead in four days -- not to mention over 20 injured in the crossfire -- doesn't sound "isolated" to Walt.

The lamestream media are howling for a solution to the Problem That Cannot Be Named. If you have a suggestion, kindly send it to the Canadian Minister of Immigration, Hon. Jason Kenney. If you're interested, Mr. Kenney has his own website on which he is soliciting your support for his great work in trying to deport criminals from Jamaica and, errr, other places.

You can also direct your suggestions to the Minister of Justice, Hon. Rob Nicholson. Tell them Walt sent ya!

"The Little Black Book of Scams" (downloadable)

Even though it first ran almost two years ago, "Help Kids Canada - a scam or only half a scam?" continues to draw comments from kids who have got sucked into working for the scammers as well as from the scammees. People keep saying, "If we'd only known..."

And of course there are lots of other scams out there which have been going on for years, lots of lowlifes making a good living out of knowing what to say and do to separate you from your money.

Apart from the old "buy a chocolate bar for charity" scam, fraudsters use internet scams, money transfer requests, pyramid schemes, fake lotteries, non-existent sweepstakes and dishonest contests. Some of these scams disappear for a few years, but then resurface with a slightly different twist, the classic example being the "Spanish prisoner" letter.

Who falls for this stuff? If you've been bitten, don't be ashamed. Most of us have been taken in at one time or another. Not becoming a victim is easier said than done. The best way to arm yourself is with information. The Competition Bureau of Canada has just published its version of a booklet which originated with its Australian counterpart, which explains how to protect yourself against fraud. It’s called The Little Black Book of Scams.

And get this. It's FREE. No strings attached. You can get it from a reputable source, namely Walt Whiteman. Just click here to open the .pdf file, which you can read or save. The file size is only 1.73 MB so it's well worth keeping and passing along to your friends.

What you're reading

Hi. Ed here. We're approaching the end of August, almost 26 months since Walt began this blog. The idea was to get people talking about some of the issues which don't get discussed much in the politically correct North American lamestream media. For instance: race, immigration and religion, on which Walt holds views contrary to the prevailing orthodoxy.

We hoped that at least a few people would read Walt's thoughts, react (comments are welcome even if not all get published), and pass the URL on to others, the point being to give thinking folks something to talk about other than celebrity train wrecks and our national preoccupation, S-E-X.

It's my job to have a look at the stats every now and then, to see how many hits we're getting, what posts draw the most interest, and where our readership is coming from. Here are three of the top 10 articles.

Help Kids Canada - a scam or only half a scam? has drawn more comments than any other piece. It still gets read, even though the first article in the series appeared back in April 2010. I can only think that it's because this scam (or half a scam) is still being run on the good-hearted and charitable Canucks.

London 2012 Olympics - Schedule of Events appeared only 11 days ago and has drawn scores of hits. I guess people are actually interested in next year's games and want to check out dates and venues. Imagine their disappointment when they find out it's a satire on the recent riots.

And now... Ed reveals the title of the most-read post. The leader -- by a country mile -- is Where next? Swaziland next? Can there really be that many people who are interested in the dark continent and the fate of the world's last absolute monarchy? This really baffled me until I remembered the picture I chose to illustrate the article.

OK. Now I understand. People -- men, I assume -- are searching Google Images and they can't resist clicking on this one. But I wonder...really...what search parameters they are typing into the dialogue box. Surely not "Swaziland".

In the final analysis, who cares. Check out whatever headline or picture turns your crank. Keep reading. Keep the comments coming. And remember that you can always e-mail Walt. Thank you for your attention!

Readers' comments that needed editing

Hi. Ed here. Walt and I always welcome readers' comments and feedback. For my sins, Walt makes me "moderate" [meaning "edit"! Walt] them before posting them. Or not. Here are a couple that wanted a bit of moderation.

"Ambler Nagy" is duelling in cyberspace with our old friend, fraud and fake "Kemi Olunyoyo", or whatever her name is today. He directs our attention to "Who is Kemi". Interesting reading.

I note that comments from the Nigerian Nemesis are still appearing in the online editions of a couple of newspapers, but it's been a while since she's been interviewed by the Canadian Broadcorping Castration.

Kasidy Nelles writes about Help Kids Canada, which is still sending kids door to door and standing them in front of banks and supermarkets to hawk chocolate bars, supposedly in aid of a worthy cause.

Here's what Kasidy says: "I just recently quit from this job. I worked for [name and Niagara region phone number supplied] for about 5 months and I'm disgusted at what I'm hearing. I cannot believe I was tricked into this. I'm only 13 years old! Douche."

More on Help Kids Canada -- one kid's story

The post with the longest "legs" on this blog was the one I wrote back in April about a self-styled charity called Help Kids Canada. Today I received from "Jesse" an account of what it's like to go door to door peddling chocolate bars for this unworthy organization. I've cleaned up the spelling and grammar a bit, otherwise this is just as he or she wrote it.

I just worked for this 'charity' or whatever, and after about 3 hours into going door to door I was cold so asked if I could go home. Our supervisor said no, it's her choice when we go home not us or our parents. We said it was our choice when to go home not hers. When we started walking away after she refused to come pick us up, she came down the road and started yelling where do you think your going. Me and my 3 friends told her we were going home. She then said "Give me my money and my chocolate and you guys can find your own way home!"

She only gave our friends a dollar each for hours of work. She ripped them off; they should have made at least 10$. She started calling us very offensive names, that wernt appropriate for children and left us stranded in some place where we had no clue where we were, in the freezing cold weather.

We had NOOOO idea this was a scam, we simply answered an add that was posted on kijiji to make some money. After this event happened, we called the police and researched information about this 'fundraiser'. I only worked for her two times and realized that she was doing this for her own benefit!

Is the story true or is someone winding Walt up? Don't know, but I don't find it hard to believe.

Readers write

Walt's been hors de combat for a couple of days, so was delighted to find a couple of comments waiting to be moderated.

Gisela Corinne von Boetticher left a comment on "Dr. Laura learns a lesson in PC":

I found your site, while trying to delineate between the hijab and burka.

Thanks! I think you're funny/honest/insightful. You remind me of an old, brilliant (libertarian) economics professor I once had in the States. He never won any elections, unfortunately. :)

Gosh, Gisela Corrine, you're making old Walt blush. And you hit the nail on the head as regards my political philosophy, to the extent that I have one. I never won any elections either because I had the disconcerting habit of saying what I truly thought.

Anonymous posted a comment on "Help Kids Canada - a scam or only half a scam?":

Guess I wasn't the only one who was scammed! Never wanting to assume a kid would lie about raising money to help someone out I doled out $5 for the half empty box of chocolate covered nuts -- $4 but I said keep the change.

Deep down I was suspicious and thought this may be another charity where the "executive" on top is taking home a 6 figure income. As the girl and her friend continued down the street asking other neighbours I did see a "white" van come shortly after to pick up the girls. I did catch the name of the charity so I could check online if it was a scam or not ....and I guess I should have gone with my instincts!!!

Yep, they're still out there. In my neighbourhood they've been positioning scruffy-looking waifs outside of banks and supermarkets. Maybe going door to door doesn't work any more.

Agent 3 refers me to Ignore the Door, from which you can get big red signs to hang or stick on your front door telling canvassers to bugger off. (Well, the one I got says "At this house we ignore the door!") Maybe they'll keep the JWs and scruffy kids and energy bullies away. Worth a try.

Your comments and feedback are always welcome. Use the comments feature here or e-mail walt.whiteman@yahoo.com.