To ask if something seems suspicious about this charity appeal?

[Topaz25]

A friend shared this on Facebook:

Urgent! A Sudanese mother is at risk of flogging for adultery, and even worse, execution for being a Christian.
She's being sentenced tomorrow - we've 1 day to save her life.
Text SUDAN2 and your name to 70505 to sign our urgent fax.
Get more details here: amn.st/1iMPHoO

This is obviously an awful situation and I'm normally happy to help by campaigning or signing a petition but in this case I can't help because I can't text premium rate numbers from my mobile. Why isn't there an option to add your name online or by email for free to make it more accessible?

Also in the past (before my tariff changed) I have sent a text to another charity to give a one off donation and then been phoned by that charity and asked to set up a regular direct debit, which I was unable to do.

AIBU to wonder why if they will make a profit from these texts and if the data will be used for marketing purposes? The request to text a premium rate number to give them your name and phone number, with the added pressure that you have to do it one day to save a life just seems a bit like emotional blackmail.

Sorry just seen there is an option to write a letter. Still concerned about the use of data and the pushing of text as the main communicator though.

I'm not sure - I rate amnesty pretty highly but these are good questions. I would like to see the answers.

Reading properly - texts charged at normal network rate. It's not a premium number.

And you are only agreeing to future text messages, and only from amnesty. Not phone calls, and no contact from anyone else.

That's weird, it has the format of a premium rate number and I couldn't text it from my mobile, which blocks premium rate numbers. I'll check with my provider.

I suppose I was surprised because these things are normally an online petition and concerned because of my previous experience of follow up marketing. Happy to be wrong though!

It's possibly because they seem to use the same number for donations too but it depends on the code - ie SUDAN1 costs 10p but IRAN1 (not real I made it up) is a £5 donation plus the 10p cost?

It's confusing though, two seperate numbers would help,

You are right to ask!

Thank you, it is a bit confusing.

A colleague just forwarded this to me so I thought I'd jump in (I have to declare that work for Amnesty UK and send out the text actions!).

I wanted to reassure everyone that you will only be charged for a standard text - these aren't covered by bundles and the price varies by operator but it's generally no more than 10p.

As RhondaJean says, we do have our own shortcode (70505) we use for donations too - but in that case we make it clear exactly how much will be taken. If you prefer not to send an SMS, we always ensure that there is another way to support the campaign - in this instance, there are fax and email details in the downloadable casesheet.

We do call people who take our SMS actions (but we'll stop if you ask us not to) as it's a really good way of recruiting new members and we need regular income to support our research and campaigning. However, we know that not everyone is in a position to give a regular gift and taking the time to add your name to a campaign is also really important.

We use a number of digital activism tools and channels, including online petitions, and we choose the most appropriate for each campaign. SMS is the quickest way for us to reach out and gather a large number of signatures - in this instance we were able to collect 8,000 names since yesterday evening which we sent to the Sudanese authorities first thing this morning.

Bad news - we have just seen this: www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-27424064

We'll be working out what steps to take next

I get the texts and often reply to add my name but don't give money - I would like to but just not in a position to at the moment. However I do like the text format as a fast way of supporting a cause, and appreciate the fact that updates are sent too.

That is a really depressing account of the case too. Basically the woman has married a Christian and so that counts as adultery under Sudanese law because he's not a Muslim, but she was actually raised as Christian herself so the apostasy charge doesn't even make any sense. Horrible case and I hope something can be done.