From the CCC website 2004 

Cumbria County Council's Trading Standards Department is warning small businesses in Cumbria to be on the lookout for the latest telephone scam.

The alert comes after a local businesswoman received a call asking for £139 which the caller said that she had agreed to pledge for text books for schools in Ambleside. The caller then asked for her credit card details.

Luckily, she didn't fall for the con. Caroline said "I knew that I hadn't pledged money in this way, so I realised straight away that it was a try-on. The caller wouldn't leave his name or that of his company, and when I tried to identify him by using 1471 on my phone, he had blocked out his number."

Head of the county council's trading standards department, Phil Ashcroft said:

"This appears to be yet another telephone scam, but this time tries to appeal to people's better nature by claiming that it is for the benefit of a local school. Schools don't raise funds by telephoning out of the blue and the county council's advice is to refuse any such request. It is dangerous to give out credit card or bank details and should never be done in response to an unsolicited phone call."

We have just had a similar call in 2006 so look out! We tried warning the trading Standards Office but they were so unhelpful that I can now understand why the people get away with it.