Direct Hope (Singapore)’s Door-to-door Fund-raising Campaign (Punggol)

A week ago, my sister WhatsApp-ed me regarding an incident involving a Direct Hope Singapore representative who had showed up at the doorstep of my parents’ home. (*I’m going to use words like “allegedly” and “supposedly” like a broken record, because I wasn’t around to hear exactly what the representative had said to my mother or what my sister had actually overheard him saying) So… this guy allegedly claimed to be from the Singapore Police Force (SPF), had allegedly shown his identity card (IC) to my mother, and was supposedly soliciting a one-time donation for poor / low-income single mothers in Singapore. Once my sister heard that someone from the SPF was here (her words: “walau police so free ah”), she whipped out her handphone and started recording a video of the dude. And I now have the video too. In it, the guy was taken aback (literally) when he saw that he was being recorded, and he actually took three steps backward before stepping towards the gate again as my mother was STILL interested in what he had to say. LOL.

With my sister video-recording him, the dude supposedly changed his tune. Instead of the SPF, he then said he’s from Direct Hope Singapore (which is actually what’s stated on his polo tee). It would be terribly easy to immediately conclude that this is some sort of scam since there are so many going on these days. But is it a scam, really?

I reached out to Direct Hope (Singapore) for comment, and got a reply from their Director, Eugene Liow.

In his email to me, Eugene shed light on the incident and I’m including some of the pertinent points he made here:

1. Direct Hope (Singapore) is a local company that runs a youth program helping marginalised youths. And the company is also carrying out a (licensed) fund-raising campaign for a beneficiary -> Persatuan Pemudi Islam Singapura (PPIS) which has a mission of inspiring women and strengthening families. [*PPIS’ website has a page corroborating this – the campaign will run till 18 Dec 2022. Click HERE to find out more]
2. For every $10 DH Mart voucher you purchase from Direct Hope (Singapore), $7 will go to PPIS.
3. Direct Hope (Singapore) has a Fund Raising Permit from NCSS – the National Council of Social Service – for this door-to-door fund-raising campaign. You can view more details of this permit granted HERE.
4. It was the representative’s “first day of participation” with Direct Hope (Singapore) when he showed up at my parents’ place. He was alone as he had “wandered off after completing his first HDB block”, having gotten “separated” from his assigned team member and decided to continue on his own.
5. The representative had mistakenly mentioned he had an SPF licence for this fund-raising campaign, when it was actually an NCSS one. He also denied claiming he was from the SPF.
6. Eugene emphasized (repeatedly) that the representative has been suspended indefinitely from participation in this campaign, as of the evening of 10th October 2022.

So for this case involving my parents’ home, it’s evidently not a scam. It was simply unfortunate that a newbie got his licences mixed up (having mistakenly thought his NCSS one was from the SPF) and getting separated from a more experienced team member.

I don’t expect to see this guy participating in this fund-raising campaign anymore, so that’s that.

Of course, if someone shows up at your doorstep and claims to be from a certain organisation, the onus is on YOU to do your due diligence checks before handing any money over. Shirts can easily be printed or purchased, and licences/permits can be forged (since most of us probably have no idea what the legitimate ones look like anyway). So… before you part with your money, always make sure you call the organisation in question first, or ask pertinent questions, to ensure you don’t become a victim of a scam.

What I AM curious about, though, is the $10 DH Mart voucher that you can purchase in support of PPIS (which will get $7). Apparently, you can use the voucher(s) to purchase durians, audio equipment like soundbars, and home essentials via DH Mart.

This is on the Direct Hope (Singapore) website:

There’s a sample of a DH Mart voucher – which probably isn’t the one being sold at the moment since it’s for 10% off instead of $10? And I noticed there’s a discount code at the top (which I’ve circled in red).

And surprise surprise, the code actually worked (HUH?!) when I randomly picked an item off DH Mart and added 5 units of it into my shopping cart:

In any case, if you’re curious like me, you can check out DH Mart and see if there’s anything you’d like to buy. If you do, then great! Next time someone approaches you regarding the sale of DH Mart vouchers in support of a beneficiary like PPIS, you can happily and readily agree. Otherwise, you can also donate directly to the beneficiary and you’ll likely be eligible for tax deduction of up to 2.5 times too. If in doubt, always check with the beneficiary first.