Three Romanians were detained in Germany after allegedly asking for money for a fictitious organization intended for sick children

Three Romanians, aged between 24 and 29, were detained by police in Bad Bibra, Saxony-Anhalt, on suspicion of carrying out a fake fundraising campaign for sick children. The intervention took place after a local resident alerted the authorities about the group’s suspicious activity.

Police found the three in a parking lot on Lauchaer Straße. According to investigators, the suspects were asking passersby for money and signatures, claiming to be acting on behalf of a charitable organization. Checks indicated that the organization was fictitious and that the campaign had no genuine humanitarian purpose.

Following the search, authorities seized several folders used to collect signatures, a substantial sum of money, and the mobile phones of the three men, who live in Duisburg. The prosecutor opened a criminal case for fraud committed on a commercial or organized basis.

Collecting money through fake humanitarian associations is a method encountered in several European cities. The groups use forms and logos that imitate well-known organizations, relying on passersby’s empathy and frequently changing their location of operation.