Hoosiers potentially scammed by fake charity

Anyone receiving a call from someone asking for money for a charity called Indiana Children Services should be wary – it is currently being investigated by the Better Business Bureau.

In recent months, a supposed charitable organization has been drawing the ire of some with phone calls asking for money. The organization’s actions have also attracted the BBB, which began investigating them last fall.

The BBB has attempted to contact Indiana Children Services by phone, mail and its MySpace page. All contacts have gone unanswered. The organization has no official Web site, but it claims to be a 501(c)3 tax-deductible charity on its MySpace page, www.myspace.com/indianachildrenservices.

On that page, they claim to help mentally challenged children both locally and throughout the state. The page has no friends or comments on it but lists two phone numbers for contact: 317-245-8221 and 866-981-1930.

Joseph Eldridge, BBB charity review coordinator, said the Internal Revenue Service does not have a tax-exempt ID number under that name, and it is not registered with the Secretary of State’s office. He also discovered that the organization’s mailing address is a UPS store mailbox in Indianapolis.

“It doesn’t mean the organization is not legitimate, but I haven’t been able to find a legitimate address,” Eldridge said. “If someone were to get something from the mail from this organization without an actual mailing address, they would assume that the company did not exist.”

As Eldridge dug further, he found that they could potentially be connected to another Indianapolis charity, the Youth Achievement League.

“When I called the IRS and inquired about Children Services, my initial response was there were no IRS files with children services,” he said. “So I gave the operator all the addresses I had, and they said based upon those addresses, they were connected to the Youth Achievement League.”

Though no solid proof exists that they are related, Eldridge said he believes they are related based on his findings.

“I think they are connected,” he said. “My initial guess without digging further is that Indiana Children Services is a program of the Youth Achievement League.”

Eldridge said he first started investigating the organization in October after he received three or four phone calls asking for basic information about the organization.

Eldridge said he understands why the calls started to come in so fast.

“People want to know where the money goes and how much of it goes to the place they say they support,” he said.

Eldridge said he is still digging for information about the organization. Calls to Indiana Children Services were not answered or returned by press time.

Emily Potter, a communications assistant for the Indiana Attorney General’s Office, said people should look closely at the name of the organization.

“Some charitable organizations use names that are very similar to those of respected organizations,” she said. “People should check with some of the independent organizations that provide information on charities to make sure you are donating to the correct charity.”