FRAUDSTERS in pink shirts pretending to raise funds for breast cancer have targeted kind-hearted locals.
BreastScreen NSW have reported to police that scammers have been asking for public donations in the Maitland and Tamworth areas.
The organisation provides free breast screening mammograms to women aged 50 to 74, and has increased the survival rates of thousands of women.
Tamworth resident Julie Nash-Smith caught one of the scammers on camera when he visited her home in Central Avenue in South Tamworth.
"The chap in the picture came to the door, we didn't give him a change to say anything as we were skeptical of him having seen Lenore's [Facebook] post," she said.
"We watched him walk over the road and then he went up to Jonathan Street.
"No advertising for the appeal makes you that way these days ... suss [sic]."
Ms Nash-Smith described the man as "respectable looking", wearing a lanyard and carrying an iPad and notebook.
Numerous other victims took to Facebook to report visits from men and women wearing pink clothes with logos, badges and lanyards with paperwork that looked legitimate.
Dale Noona Sampson said a young man turned up last week with a pink breast cancer shirt on and identification.
"[He] talked about what they were trying to achieve and the percentage rate of survival, seemed to be legit," he said.
BreastScreen NSW is part of NSW Health and does not ask for donations.
In a statement on Twitter, a Hunter New England Health spokesperson said BreastScreen NSW has been advised of scammers impersonating BreastScreen NSW and asking for public donations in Tamworth and Maitland.
"The matter has been referred to police," it reads.
"Please note BreastScreen NSW is part of NSW Health and does not ask for donations."
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