To think many fell for the Captain Tom scam

[Binjob118]

I never understood all the fuss about Captain Tom. A rich old man walked around his garden and was lauded as a hero. Family then go on freebie holiday to Barbados whilst rest of us were locked down for Christmas. Then it turns out he was part of family scam to pay the family from book proceeds. No wonder so many people in this country are targeted by scammers, we are a gullible lot.

I understand that the donations did go to the NHS (or various NHS charities).
However, on the back of the fame he wrote a book, of which the proceeds (or most of) went to his family.
I am sure, however, that a lot of people were probably confused between which was which, and he would not have obtained all the sales for his book, without the 'walking for the NHS', stuff.
I feel sad that it has tarnished his name, when he was trying to do something during the time of covid, etc
I should say, I have NOT watched the documentary, and I may feel differently, if it reveals infomation I am unaware of. On the other hand, I did not contribute to either the book or the charity, or any of the other things the family were doing.
The NHS is funded from our taxes, so it seemed a bit odd anyway.

The media latching onto lots of different #heartwarming stories following diffferent families with their troubles and causes - it's been going on ages.

BBC breakfast is awful for squeezing these 'pieces' in every bloody day lately/ Even if it is being delivered from a sofa BBC Breakfast is meant to be world news. Too much charity sadness time every morning and you do sort of glaze over.

The Captain Tom thing was just more of the above for me at the time,pandemic or not, and i'm not surprised to find that this particular family were on the make.

The forward of the book indicated he saw another opportunity to raise funds. Of course we cannot now ask him what he meant!

This.
I think his effort at the start was genuine but as it grew ( remember news was all doom and gloom every day ) his daughter saw it as a business opportunity.
At the beginning donating a tenner to the NHS was nothing when we heard of drs and nurses dying from Covid while trying to save others, nurses not having the right PPE, all working crippling hours swathed in plastic. Pity it all went sour so fast.

They were probably the same people who thought lockdown was jolly good fun, and who told other people to "stay the fuck at home".

In other words: gullible idiots.

The media got giddy on the man walking round his garden.
I read today some journalist today saying he was the nations grandad. Eh.. no he was not. It was hype.

I thunk he knew. He wasnt shy of media having appeared on game shows. He was shrewd and spotted an oportunity. Hannah Ingram-Moore's BIL is also a fan of appearing on game shows although his appearance didnt work out so well
< cough cough > 😉

You can file Captain Tom alongside those gross memes about the Queen going to heaven with bloody Paddington bear. Just mawkish and vaguely aggressive to those not joining in or showing proper respect. For me the Captain Tom family fraud is the inevitable conclusion of sentimental and idiotic hubris by the British mainstream media and foolish public.

Was Hannah’s BIL the coughing major on Who Wants to be a Millionaire??

I thought the entire thing was awful, at the time, because we should be funding healthcare through taxes, not pretending it's a niche charity to patronise.

I hadn't heard about the scam, but it doesn't surprise me. Makes more sense, really.

Exactly! I never fell for any of it. Never do. I work in comms and can spot a feel good PR tale a mile off.

I didn't clap for the NHS or jump on the Captain Tom bandwagon because I saw at the time all the hyping up the media and politicians were doing for it all and I saw through it. People are too easily swept up in these contrived media frenzies.

🤯 Surely not!

Yes, the NHS charity aren't allowed to spend the money on the 'actual' NHS. The number of times I saw comments when nurses were striking saying 'what happened to the money Captain Tom raised?' As if that would give everyone working in the NHS some massive pay rise 🙄

I didn't participate in it. Thought it was dumb. Also thought the clapping was dumb.

Was right on both counts.

@holidaywin I think that's a myth maybe https://twitter.com/ingramcolin/status/1644384224370098193?lang=en-GB

But in his books didn't he write that he hoped the income from the books would go to the Foundation? It doesn't sound like he wanted his family to profit from them.

We do fund healthcare entirely through taxes. No-one can "donate" to the NHS for staff or healthcare. Hence why the money initially raised went to NHS Together. Funds can be raised for specific items, like scanners, but the rules are really tight.

@Tracker1234 I think it's just a coincidence they both have the surname Ingram, and they're not related.

It went to 'NHS Charities Together'. They wasted most of it on complete rubbish like 'pamper bags' and 'fresh fruit'.

I was living in Europe at the time and can remember the whole thing making me feel uncomfortable.
At the time I assumed it was because I lived in a country with properly funded healthcare, where it would have been viewed exploitative of Ct. Tom, not heroic by him.
I definitely raised my eyebrows at the Barbados holiday when most people in England couldn't even pull a Xmas cracker with members of another household.

I don't think Cpt Tom set out to scam people or could have envisaged walking around his garden could raise so much money. It was clear he was a privileged man already, but I think he did just want to raise money. Just a shame his daughter was so greedy and has no morals. She exploited her Dad abd those who donated IMO.

The while thing made me cringe. This has shown people up for what COVID was for many wealthy people - an opportunity to make even more wealth by turning a crisis to their advantage. Just like those in Westminster and their buddies.

I really don't think there was a cunning plan to make millions- for the NHS or family, it was picked up by the media.

I get that he wanted his family to benefit from the book - as long as it didn't say 'all profits to the NHS' on the cover there was really no scam. It was his life story, fair enough that he/his family benefited.

There are big questions about how the charity has been run in the last couple of years, but claiming that he must have known, with no knowledge at all, is really crass.

I think he did a nice thing, and his daughter jumped on it as she realised what she had on her hands and that the Media would eat it up. Didn’t she do a press release? She exploited the situation for all it was worth. She is a horror, I’m glad she’s been found out.

I am a bit of a grinch who hates anything like this. It’s incredibly mawkish, and I can’t bear the way the press reports it. Of course it was used to distract from the absolute shit show that was the government completely failing to handle COVID.

As with many fads in this country, people (celebrities) latched on to him so quickly to be seen as applauding a ‘hero’, he became the Nations mascot. The types who watch Pride of Britain awards, go to BGT live shows, buy tickets for the Strictly tour etc lacked enough critical thought capacity to think hang on a second this stinks of scam because they were too busy stood in their street live streaming whilst banging pots and pans.

Too many in this country are very easily fooled (ie voting in Boris Johnson as pm, Jimmy Saville and Rolf Harris predators in plain sight for decades, Nigel Farrage and his Brexit brigade) and Captain Lieutenant Major General Lord Earl Tom was too good an opportunity for his cunning family too pass up.

I had forgotten about the record.
I said to dh at the time what a pile of crap and dh thought I was awful.
So glad I didn’t donate a penny to this bollocks.
I also stopped clapping.
I did have to work throughout the entire lock down.