THREE Harcourt men have been arrested for allegedly setting up fake charity stalls, where they raised more than $100,000.
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Bendigo Crime Investigation Unit detectives arrested three men aged 49, 41 and 31 this morning after a four-year investigation into money being solicited under the guise of charity.
Police allege the men set up fundraising stalls with pictures of sick children, advertising that the funds would go towards terminally sick children and their families.
It is alleged they gained more than $100,000 since 2013 by setting up stalls in various locations across Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania.
The men allegedly used the funding for personal purchases of food, clothes, cigarettes and healthcare.
Investigators do not believe the funds were provided to the families of sick children.
Bendigo CIU detective Sergeant Colin Grenfell said a Bendigo family, who had lost two children to illness and were fighting to save a third, had been caught up in it all.
“It is heartbreaking to see real people with real terminally ill children ripped off,” he said.
The three men are likely to be charged with offences including deception, documentary perjury and using proceeds of crime.