AN INVESTIGATION is under way after police were alerted to two suspicious street collectors asking for money to ‘reduce the risk of cancer’ for children.

Meg Blumsom, co-ordinator of the Abbey 900 Festival, reported the pair to police after spotting them collecting cash in Cricklade Street, Cirencester last Thursday.

The collectors were handing out leaflets and asking for a suggested donation of 50p for an organisation called NPCCS or Natural Prevention which “provides information regarding reducing the risk of cancer” in children.

“Natural Prevention offers support in the form of an initial consultation with a qualified nutritional therapist who can help parents and carers to establish a plan to combat any lack of nutrients the child may be suffering from,” according to the leaflet.

The organisation also offers “regular organic fruit and veg boxes delivered to the family’s door and a high quality masticating juicer”.

However, the email and phone number provided on the leaflet are both invalid.

Meg said the two people looked “as if they were proper charity collectors” with a bucket, badges and uniforms, and said “they were collecting for charity”.

“When challenged, they admitted it was a private organisation and they could choose to give money to individuals,” she added.

Meg kept one of the leaflets, having noted down the telephone number on one of the collector’s badges, which is one digit different from the number on the leaflet.

The Standard was then able to get in contact with someone who claimed to be the director of NPCCS, though he did not wish to be named.

“We are not a charity, we have made no claims of being a charity,” he said. “I assure you that everything is above board.”

The man said he was currently “in talks with Trading Standards regarding our procedures” and that his organisation is currently “in the process of making changes to adhere to their criteria”.

He went on to say: “In order to become a registered charity, you need something like £5,000 going through your organisation’s account. We’re not at that stage yet. Once we are, we will consider registering as a charity.”

He added: “For now, we offer free forms of support for families who need it.”

The leaflet, dated May 2017, says it is issue 2, and the man said the organisation had only been running for a matter of weeks.

A spokesman for National Trading Standards said: “The process of a business liaising with trading standards would usually take place with the trading standards department based in the local authority where the company is located.”

However, Gloucestershire Trading Standards has no record of NPCCS or Natural Prevention, though it is unclear where the organisation is based.

Meg, who first spotted one of their leaflets a few weeks ago, said she saw the pair outside Poundland at around 10.30am and then again at about 2pm.

“I think it’s a scam,” she said. “People were giving them money. They look as if they are a charity. I stopped one woman from putting money into their bucket.”

“They admitted to me they are not collecting the money for charity.

“Technically they are not saying they are collecting for charity, they are collecting to prevent cancer in children,” she said.

“NSCCS looks almost like NSPCC, which sort of tricks the mind.”

A spokeswoman for Gloucestershire Police said the collectors had been reported to them more than once.

“Last Thursday morning, a member of the public reported concerns that a man and a woman seen collecting money for a cancer charity in Cricklade Street, Cirencester, may be fake,” she said.

“When he asked them for a charity number, they were unable to give him one and said they were a private organisation making donations to cancer charities, which raised his suspicions.”

“We are looking into the concerns,” she added.

A Cotswold District Council spokesman said: “We are aware of the organisation, but its activities are exempt from the street collection regulations as ‘staff’ are selling a publication, rather than undertaking a monetary collection.

"We understand that these activities are nationwide, and that the organisation is being looked into by the Charity Commission (CC).”