++ Beware of Fraud ++

02. September 2020

+++ New fraud cases were reported +++

Fraudsters are still pretending to collect donations for Save the Children on various online platforms. In addition, help alliance as an organisation is placed with its logo and address. If you are asked to donate via viacash.com or a barcode (from barzahlen.de), please report this immediately to the Save the Children donor service.Have you also been contacted or do you have further questions? You can reach the Save the Children donor service at:

What is known about the fraud so far

Individual cases have been reported to the organisation Save the Children in which fraud has apparently been attempted under false identity of Save the Children and help alliance. People are contacted via various web portals and asked to make an alleged donation to Save the Children, help alliance or other organisations using a QR code.

One man, for example, pretends to be a police officer, an employee of a German bank or a lawyer. Marcus Eppig or Marco De Luigi, for example, is used as his name. The payment method used was, for example, viacash.com or by barcode at a partner branch of Barbezahlen.

Legal action

Save the Children and help alliance have already taken legal action to prosecute this brazen fraud after the first cases became known in July.

In general, neither Save the Children nor help alliance accepts donations via viacash.com and there is no cooperation between Save the Children and help alliance. It is to be assumed that the fraudster(s) will only abuse the logos and names of charitable organizations for a short period of time (a few days) and will then attempt to cause damage to other organizations. We hope that the investigation will soon be successful and that any perpetrators will be brought to justice quickly.

How to recognize the fraud

  • Contact via various web portals
  • Feigning of a false identity, e.g. Marcus Eppig
  • Request for a donation payment via viacash.com or QR Code
  • Information about a cooperation between Save the Children and help alliance
  • Fake letter from Save the Children and help alliance
Contact details
Contact (069) 696 – 696 70 helpalliance@dlh.de