RESIDENTS are urged to be alert after suspicious charity bags dropped through letterboxes in Bournemouth.

The white sacks have the name “Bernhardos” written on them and ask for donations of clothes and other goods in aid of St Pranciskus Asyzietis parish in Lithuania.

A website address on the sack, sparko-ltd.co.uk, makes the point that the organisation is not related to the Barnardo’s children’s charity.

The website is written in broken English with spelling errors, and a phone number given rang continuously when called by the Daily Echo.

A Charity Commission search of the charity number given online gives no results, although the number is registered with Companies House as a Bristol business called Sparco Ltd.

Brian and Deborah Rogers of Morley Road, Pokesdown, received a bag yesterday.

Brian said: “It’s one of those scams which is pushing the truth. It’s a very close green on the bags. When you hold it up you can quickly think it says Barnardo’s and some people might not notice.”

A spokesman for Barnardo’s said: “We would like to remind residents that Barnardo’s only uses professionally produced and properly branded material, which clearly identifies the charity and its registered charity numbers.

“Barnardo’s staff have made attempts to contact this organisation but without success, therefore we have alerted trading standards.

“We remain sincerely grateful for all donations and ask that people continue to support us when they recognise our collection bags.”

The bags have also been reported in other areas of the UK, including Gloucestershire and Caerphilly.

Andy Sherriff, Trading Standards manager for Bournemouth, said it was likely the company was staying on the right side of the law thanks to its disclaimer saying it was not related to Barnardo’s.

But he added: “It’s sailing fairly close to the wind and people should steer clear of this.”

He said his colleagues in Bristol were investigating Sparco Ltd. Anyone with concerns should call Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06.