BUSINESSES have been warned to beware of cash demands from 'do-gooders' claiming to be using calendars and bookmarks to raise money for under-privileged children.

A number of organisations have begun contacting Lancashire companies in a bid to persuade them to pay for advertisements on the publications.

Bills range from £50 to £500 and Trading Standards officials claim some of the firms use heavy-handed tactics to try and persuade people to pay up. The organisations singled out in the warning are not registered charities and it is unclear how much of their income is actually donated to good causes.

Some send polite letters asking businesses for their support, but others have been known to use fake invoices and door-to-door collectors as well as threatening to send in bailiffs, even if firms have not agreed to the adverts.

Lancashire's chief trading standards officer Jim Potts said: "People are increasingly being invited to make contributions to an ever-growing number of good causes which are not registered charities. We are making further inquiries about a number of organisations which are doing this."

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