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.

Brazilian woman tries "Weekend at Bernie's" trick to get bank loan

Walt loves stories about stupid criminals, and this is the best one I've heard in a looooong time. Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes, a resident of a suburb of Rio de Janeiro, has been arrested after she brought her uncle, Paulo Roberto Braga into a bank to co-sign for a loan. Unfortunately, Mr Braga, who was brought in in a wheelchair, was determined to be dead.

The Rio newspaper O Dia reports that, in a CCTV video, Ms Nunes is heard calling Braga her uncle as she speaks to the body and props up his head. "Uncle, are you listening?" she says. "You need to sign [the contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, because I can’t sign for you."

She then grabs a pen and forces it into the hands of the corpse, saying, "Sign so you don’t give me any more headaches, I can’t take it anymore." According to the video, she replies "He doesn't say anything, that's just how he is," before turning to the dead body and adding: "If you're not okay, I'm going to take you to the hospital." 

Bank staff soon became suspicious as the man's head kept falling back so they called the police who arrested Ms Nunes. The cops allege that Mr Nunes, who was 68, had died just hours before, while ly ing down. "She knew he was dead," said the investigating officer. "He had been dead for at least two hours."

Ms Nunes now faces charges of violating a corpse and attempted theft through fraud. Her lawyer says that Mr Braga was alive when he entered the bank. "The facts did not occur as has been narrated. Paulo was alive when he arrived at the bank. All of this will be cleared up. We believe in Érika’s innocence."

"Vandalee Industries" at heart of multi-million dollar scam

Remember "Art Vandelay" and "Vandelay Industries", a fictional character and fictional business from a great episode of one of Walt's favourite sitcoms, Seinfeld? Of course you do. If not, this photo should jog your memory.

The name "Vandelay Industries" must have rung a bell in the mind of an investigator with the Canada Revenue Agency (Canuck version of the IRS) as he went through the handwritten expense claim submitted by a Nova Scotia company that claimed it had done C$117,850 in business with "Vandalee Industries". In a sworn affidavit, the snooper wrote, "Based on an internet search, and from my personal knowledge, I know that 'Vandelay Industries' is often a pop culture reference to a fictional company created in the television sitcom Seinfeld." (Walt wonders how much time the copper claimed to have put in doing the "internet search"!)

Based on the affidavit, the CRA got search warrants and production orders related to ten companies registered in Canada's Ocean Playground (TM). After following the paper trails, they charged three sisters and their mother with fraud offences totalling C$3.6 million ($2.7 mil in real money) related to GST/HST refunds.

For non-Canadian readers, Agent 3 explains that GST/HST is a kind of value-added tax. Sellers of goods and services are supposed to collect the tax on everything they sell and remit that to the federal and provincial governments. But they can deduct the GST/HST they've paid on inputs and operating expenses. If your business pays out more than it takes in, you can be entitled to a refund. And that's what the ladies -- not very good businesspeople -- did, making claims for large refunds, with their claims supported by a slew of fake invoices, expense reports and sales records.

Georgette Young, her sisters Angela MacDonald and Nadia Saker, and their mother, Lydia Saker, purported to be the proprietors of a group of companies engaged in publishing cookbooks, making salad dressing and wigs, catering and selling fur coats for kids. The ten companies under their control claimed to have done $56 million in sales out of a modest home in North Sydney NS, a small storefront in nearby Boularderie, a local farm, and a house in Kentville NS.

At least on paper, their sales were impressive, including 54,000 cookbooks in six months, hundreds of children's coats sold for a grand apiece, and half-million-dollar orders for frozen seafood lasagna, spaghetti and meatball dinners. All this, according to court records, even though the companies had no employees and, in some cases, didn't even have bank accounts.

Sadly, even though business was booming, the ladies failed to collect much of the GST/HST that was due, which led to their claiming large refunds. Before CRA auditors became suspicious, the companies got refunds totalling C$276,000. Claims of more than C$3 million were ultimately denied. In almost every case, CRA investigators said they couldn't find any trace of the stores or other enterprises the family companies were purported to have done business with. Even the addresses didn't appear to exist.

They included sales of C$400,000 to Upstairs Department Store, at 41 Hissiem Street in North Sydney. Apparently that's just up the road from Tycoon Book Distributors (C$433,125 in sales) and AMM Groceries (C$2,534,000 in sales). Quite something for a town with a population of just 5700 souls.

But what of "Vandalee Industries"? According to court records, that name was twice listed on an expense summary for Kishk Inc., a food company operated by Ms Young. The services provided? "Management, marketing and packaging". Investigators concluded that "the majority of these transactions are believed to be fictitious and included on the Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax Returns in an attempt to obtain false refunds." DUH!

The ladeez are supposed to appear in a Sydney courtroom even as this is written. They each face ten counts of fraud, to which they have not yet entered pleas. We must therefore believe that they are innocent... until proven otherwise.

"Prophets" use dwarf to con credulous African man out of $7000

Note from Ed.: Walt still hasn't been heard from, but I hate to leave this space empty on Superbowl Sunday, when some of our readers will undoubtedly be looking for alt-entertainment. So here's a true story from Zimbabwe, in the southern part of Darkest Africa. Some people who live there, like our old friend Dr CZ, admit that it's a shithole. (Not that it's the only one.) But others say that under its new dictator, Zimbabwe is a modern, progressive democracy, full of educated and industrious people, with a prosperous future ahead of it, once they get past some old customs and superstitions. Like the belief in witchcraft, illustrated by this account from today's Zimbabwe Standard.

Three suspected fake prophets allegedly brought a midget to a family in Emakhandeni, Bulawayo and lied to the family that the dwarf was the goblin which was responsible for their son's mental illness. The con artists convinced the family to part with $7000 to cleanse the boy. This case was brought before the courts following the arrest of one of the conmen and was heard by Bulawayo magistrate Nyaradzo Ringisayi. Godfrey Manyoka (30) was being charged with fraud and was remanded out of custody on $200 bail.

The court was told that between October 21 and 31 last year, Manyoka and his two accomplices, who are still at large, went to Khumbulani Mkhwananzi's house in Emakhandeni. The trio allegedly connived to misrepresent to the complainant that they were genuine prophets able to conduct prayers as well as cleansing ceremonies to heal his son who has a mental illness.

The suspects on October 21 allegedly planted weird objects in Mkwananzi's yard to convince him there were evil things brought by witches resulting in the child’s illness. It is alleged that they further lied that there was a tokoloshi [= goblin. Ed.] living in the complainant's house ceiling which contributed to the child's illness.

On October 23, they brought with them a dwarf who was completely naked and they claimed he was actually a goblin, known in the local vernacular as a "tokoloshi". Mkhwananzi remained outside the house while the three entered the house. The "tokoloshi" started talking from outside threatening to kill the boy if it is not paid with 20 herd of cattle by Mkhwananzi. The "tokoloshi" said it wanted the cattle delivered to its homestead in Chipinge while the three were busy praying inside talking to it.

Mkhwananzi was made to believe that the utterance by the purported tokoloshi was genuine. Mkwananzi was charged $7000 by the fake prophets to purchase 20 cattle in Chipinge for the tokoloshi. On October 24 Mkhwananzi gave the three conmen $5000 while $375 was transferred into the accused persons' EcoCash account as payment towards the purchase of 20 cattle in Chipinge and transport for the three to go to Chipinge as per instruction of the "tokoloshi".

He also made a transfer of $2050 into EcoCash account of Esinath Nyambo, one of the suspects who is still at large to settle the balance for payment of the 20 cattle. After the payment the three did not go to Chipinge. Through this misrepresentation they swindled Mkhwananzi of $7351 and nothing was recovered. A report was made to the police leading to Manyoka's arrest.

That's the end of the report. Such stories are not unusual in that part of the world. No wonder so many Africans want to emigrate to the UK or the USA or any Western country where tokoloshis are unknown... or almost....

Credit where credit is due: The excellent drawing of a river goblin was lifted from "Crapsack Goblin Game Idea", by Jeff Russell, in his blog Blessings of the Dice Gods.

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.

Anti-Christian "Viking" tour company thought to be a sham/scam

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Agents, comments and contacts

Ed. here with answers to three FAQ's about WWW and how you can communicate with Walt, Poor Len...and me!

AGENTS: "Who are all these numbered Agents you keep referring to?"
Although several of them seem to have congregated in Florida to ride out the winter, Walt normally has agents -- some of them normal -- on four continents. They speak three languages -- four if you count "Merkan" as a separate language. They contribute comments, leads (usually in the form of URLs of interesting sites or stories) and FWDs they think Walt (and you) might like.

How do you become an agent? Walt doesn't have a formal application process. If you contact Walt regularly with items just mentioned, you'll eventually find yourself referred to when we use one of your items. We never disclose numbers or identities. Indeed, it's all I can do to remember them myself, without the aid of my little black book!

CONTACTS: Simple! Click here to send an e-mail.
Yes, there's a spam filter. And I do recognize the 419 and other scams even if they slip through the filter. So if you're a spammer or scammer, you won't get a response, let alone Dollar One. But if you have a pearl to cast, knock yourself out.

COMMENTS: People who want to comment on one of our posts sometimes send an e-mail. You don't have to do that.
The problem seems to be that you can't comment directly from the landing/home page of our blog. What you do is click on the headline of the post you're reading. It will then open in a separate window, and you'll see the comments box open at the bottom. Submit your comment, which I [Ed.] will publish... or not... depending! Hey, that's my job...

You're welcome. Let's hear from you.

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!

eBay seller screwed by scammer thanks to "buyer protection"

One of Walt's readers, who prefers to remain anonymous [but we know who you are! Ed.] has a complaint about eBay's one-sided, anti-seller "buyer protection". According to this disgruntled seller, it's far too easy for overseas scammers to use eBay's bias for buyers to screw sellers and get free stuff. Here's how the scam works.

The seller lists an item on eBay and offers to ship worldwide. An overseas buyer -- in India, let's say -- wins the item and pays for it, plus shipping and handling. If the buyer refuses to pay extra for registration and proof of delivery, the item is shipped by unregistered small packet airmail, for which there's no tracking number.

The buyer/scammer waits a couple of weeks, then lodges a claim with eBay's so-called Resolution Center, stating he did not receive the item and wants his money back. Of course he has no proof one way or the other, nor does the seller. You can't prove something did not happen. So it's up to eBay to decide who it believes.

eBay asks the seller to provide a tracking number. Here's the Catch-22. On shipments overseas -- let's say to India -- proof of delivery can't be obtained even if there is a tracking number, because of the vagaries of foreign postal systems. Not to mention theft by postal workers which is all too common in the third world.

In any case, all you can do with the tracking number is show that the item was entered in the mail in the USA or Canada. eBay will never receive a tracking confirmation from the destination post office, and thus will never get proof of delivery even if the item has arrived.

So... eBay's Resolution Center closes the case in favour of the buyer -- always in favour of the buyer -- because a tracking number cannot be supplied or proof of delivery obtained. eBay's response to the unhappy seller? "That's tough. You should have got a tracking number"... even if the cost of registering the item is more than the value of the item and the buyer won't pay for it.

Not only does eBay give the poor innocent buyer his money back, he gets the shipping and handling charge refunded too! The seller is cheated out of his item, plus the out-of-pocket S&H.

Walt has Googled "eBay buyer protection abuse" and found numberous complaints of this nature against eBay, its buyer protection policy and its Resolution Center. A real problem with the Resolution Center seems to be getting a real person to respond to e-mails.

The only way to speak to a real person seems to be by telephone -- yes, a toll-free number is provided -- but the standard response seems to be to stand on the buyer protection policy which is totally biased against sellers. No proof of delivery = seller loses.

This has been going on for years (judging by dates of complaints published on the Net) yet eBay still takes the buyer's side every time, even though it knows the system is being scammed.

Worse yet, since eBay and PayPal have common ownership, eBay can and does take the "refund" out of the seller's PayPal account before a case is decided, sometimes even before the seller is notified of a complaint.

And still worse, if eBay's charging the seller's PayPal account throws the account into the red, the seller can't close either his eBay account or his PayPal account until the situation is "resolved". There is no appeal, no recourse, nothing for an aggrieved seller to do but grit his teeth and pay up, just to get off the eBay/PayPal books!

Footnote: eBay has announced, just this month, that it is changing its policy to be a little more fair to sellers, and a little more sceptical about "didn't-get-my-stuff" claims from overseas buyers. Wonder if they'll make the new policy retroactive! Chances of that happening? Slim and none! Lifetime pct .986.

Postscript: Walt wonders why Agent 3 or some other lawyer isn't advertising for claimants for a class action lawsuit against eBay. Sue the bastards, I say!

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!

Blame Canuck for KONY 2012 backlash

Who's Grant Oyston? He's a 19-year-old student at Acadia university, in Canada's "down East" provinces. And he's the driving force at Visible Children, a website set up to set the fats straight on the Invisible Children campaign to expose Joseph Kony and his murderous Lord's Resistance Army. The KONY 2012 video has had millions of views and garnered support from celebrities from Janet Jackson to Zooey Deschanel. Hey, if Rihanna is for something, how can you be against it?

But Geoffrey York, the Globe and Mail 's man in Africa, reports that the video has attracted a lot of blowback from people who challenge the aims and approach of the Invisible Children campaign. As Walt told you earlier this week, Mr. Oyston has raised some serious questions about Invisible Children's financing structure, its call for direct military intervention against Kony's ragtag "army" of child slaves, and Invisible Children's connections with the Uganda and Sudanese armies.

"Military intervention may or may not be the right idea, but people supporting KONY 2012 probably don't realise they're supporting the Ugandan military who are themselves raping and looting away," Oyston wrote. Check out "Why I'm Opposed to the Campaign", in Sabotage Times. [Gotta love that name. Ed.]

In Oyston's view, learning more about Kony and lobbying western governments to do more to bring Kony before the International Criminal Court is good. But still, he advises against supporting the campaign or donating to Invisible Children. Click here to read "What to do", posted on Visible Children yesterday. Hint: Don't give them any money. Oyston recommends another charity instead.

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.