A GANG of conmen is being hunted by detectives after cheating hundreds of people by claiming they were raising cash for a charity.

The scam is a devastating blow for the Cerebral Palsy Care learning centre in Cliffe Woods, near Strood, because it could seriously damage future fund-raising efforts.

It is thought that the fraudsters may have collected thousands of pounds as they pretended to be working on behalf of the charity.

Medway police officers launched the fraud investigation into the carefully-planned scam after Linda Phillips, fund-raising manager for CPC, received a tip off from a northern charity warning her about bogus charity workers.

Mrs Phillips earned the gang had traipsed round hundreds of homes in north London selling prize draw tickets saying they were from CPC. She said: "The group had our charity number and correct details printed on these tickets.

"They went from door to door selling tickets saying there were five prizes to be won and the winners' details would be published in a national newspaper on August 5."

The conmen went to great lengths to rip people off by printing information about CPC and the conductive education provided for children at the Medway centre on the back of the tickets. "The only reason we found out was because a northern charity went round doing something similar, but they were told by one woman she had already bought a ticket.

"The northern charity found this suspicious, asked to look at the ticket and then rang us up to say we were selling tickets illegally because details of the production company weren't on the tickets.

"I told the man we weren't doing anything of the sort and we then realised it was a scam and I contacted the police," said Mrs Phillips.

The learning centre relies solely on fund-raising. It is not supported by government or council grants.

Det Sgt Andy Pritchard, of Medway Police said: "The Metropolitan police are dealing with the investigation but we are warning people about handing money over. If people have any worries then they should question the person selling things on behalf of a charity."