Cancer Fund Of America

The state attorney general's office is conducting a fraud investigation of two cancer charities that are part of a national direct-mail campaign offering sweepstakes awards to potential donors. James Cordi, deputy attorney general, said Tuesday that the nonprofit firms are being investigated for possible violations of laws governing false advertising. The inquiry was launched three weeks ago after his office received several complaints.

The state attorney general's office is conducting a fraud investigation of two cancer charities that are part of a national direct-mail campaign offering sweepstakes awards to potential donors. James Cordi, deputy attorney general, said Tuesday that the nonprofit firms are being investigated for possible violations of laws governing false advertising. The inquiry was launched three weeks ago after his office received several complaints.

Postal inspectors are investigating complaints from people who say they thought they had won a $5,000 cash prize from a cancer research group only to find they received a dime in return for a donation. "We are in the fact-gathering stage at this point," Tom McClure of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service said today. Watson & Hughey Co., a direct-mail firm in Alexandria, Va., sent letters soliciting participation in a fund-raising campaign on behalf of three cancer research organizations.

Convinced that an anti-drug charity was a massive fraud, the state of Pennsylvania went to court to shut down Irvine-based United Citizens Against Drugs Inc. operations in that state last summer. In its lawsuit, Pennsylvania alleged that the United organization was part of a "pass-along" network of charities in which donated goods were passed from one charity to another at "grossly" inflated value, said Daniel Clearfield, Pennsylvania's executive deputy attorney general.

Sleigh rides, festive parties and mistletoe. Those are some of the merrier images of the holiday season. But the nation's 1 million charitable groups and churches are hoping thoughts will also turn to the sick, poor and downtrodden in the weeks ahead. "This is the season when people's heartstrings are being pulled," said Bennett M. Weiner, director of the philanthropic advisory service of the Council of Better Business Bureaus in Arlington, Va. "There are dozens and dozens . . .