Fake Charity

We totally swear we won't spend the money on the new *Zelda* game.

Exactly What It Says on the Tin: A Fake Charity.

People can be persuaded to give money to strangers surprisingly easily, if they believe that the money is going to a good cause—like a charity organization. Jerkasses and bad guys will often take advantage of this by claiming to be collecting for a charity, when the fact is, they're keeping the money themselves.

From easiest to most involved and labor-intensive, the most common forms are:

The collector makes up an impressive-sounding, deceptive, or un-informative name, but there's no organization at all. He may hand-draw a label for a collection can. These generally don't produce a lot of money, but they can be trotted out pretty much whenever the conman feels like it—all he needs to do is come up with a new name (and make a new label.)
The collector holds a fundraiser for something (rare, weird or non-existent diseases are a favorite). This version can rake in a lot of cash in a very short time, but has a limited replay utility.
The collector creates the appearance of a legitimate organization: he has stationery or business cards made, along with the collection can labels. He may rent a bare-bones (desk-and-telephone) office. At this level, he may also convince well-meaning innocents to do collecting for him. These tend to have a limited lifespan, although they may become the next stage:
The collector actually creates an organization. This level requires both accomplices and dupes. The office will be convincing, with accomplices playing secretaries and co-workers. Dupes may be employed as collectors or office help. The one place dupes will never be used is in any position where they have access to the bookkeeping records.

Besides a simple desire for money, Fake Charities can also be used as an front for other activities, or a way to drum up resources for some other plan.

May backfire on the guilty parties, or not.

Examples of Fake Charity include:

Comic Books

In the comic: Future Five, as featured on Atop the Fourth Wall, Dr. Know uses a charity fund for homeless kittens as a front for his illegal activities.

Literature

Cribbins in Making Money poses as a devout Omnian collecting "for the kiddies".
The Lincoln Lawyer: One of the lawyer's clients used a fake charity to trick people out of their money. The donations went to the defended cause but the organization used the donor's numbers to steal even more money.

Magazines

This anecdote, published in Reader's Digest and cited by Snopes in their discussion of another urban legend hinging on the same wordplay:

In our college post office, a collection box appeared marked: Help The Blind Fund. It filled up rapidly with small change. One day it was replaced by a card which read: Thank you for your contributions. The Venetian blinds for our dormitory room have now been purchased.

Live-Action TV

Seinfeld: "The Strike." Also known as "The Festivus Episode." George Costanza creates a phony charity called "The Human Fund" in this episode that nearly gets him the axe at work.
30 Rock: Jack's brother made up a hospital called "Chicago All Saints Hospital" and told people to just write out the initials when they were writing a donation check.
Arrested Development:
- The Bluth family once held a fundraiser to fight a disease, though they hadn't yet decided which one. But the guests were more than happy to donate their money to ease the suffering of victims of TBA. To make things worse, while the first time this was genuine indecision, next year they did the same thing, and pretended George Michael was suffering from it.
- Maeby had a fundraiser for her alter ego Shirley, who was said to be suffering from BS.
Season 9 of The Beverly Hillbillies started with a three-parter where Jed and clan repeatedly falling for a scam artist who had various bogus charities, all of which needed a million dollars and whose initialisms were C.A.S.H.
I Love Lucy: Lucy and Ethel run a raffle to raise money for "Women Overseas Aid," a charity they make up on the spot on the basis of, "We're women, we want to go overseas, and boy do we need aid." Eventually they figure out that doing such a thing is illegal, but just as they collect all the money, a representative from the real Women Overseas Aid organization shows up to collect their generous donation.
In the Columbo episode "The Conspirators", the villain sets up a charity drive supposedly to benefit victims of The Troubles. The money is actually being used to arm IRA terrorists.
In the Porridge Where Are They Now special Norman Stanley Fletcher: Life Beyond the Box, "Horrible" Ives, the most despicable and untrustworthy character in Slade Prison, is now supposedly collecting for "Help The Blind Doggies".
Brian Arthur Derek Boyes in BAD Boyes is a rare example of a Lovable Rogue who goes out with a fake collecting tin (generally Lovable Rogues disdain this, because you're preying on generosity rather than greed). He stays Lovable because he's only doing it because he's desperate; he needs to raise cash for the school bully or he'll be beaten up. As with Lucy and Ethel, his money then gets taken by the real charity he's using the name of. There's also some Hypocritical Humor in the Novelisation; when his first attempt nets buttons and foreign money, he's outraged at the dishonesty of some people.
Boston Legal: Some friends of Denny Crane pulled a prank on him by tricking them into thinking the Republican Party wanted him as their presidential candidate. During the ceremony to announce him, they told him it was just a prank. Their laughter ended when some federal agents showed up to arrest them for using a phony presidential candidate to scam money out of people. As the pranksters tried to explain the situation, Denny explained he figured out they were pranking him and brought the "agents" as a payback.

Newspaper Comics

"The Fund For Widows And Orphans" from The Piranha Club, is more or less used as an expense account by The Club, and more commonly, by the crooked treasurer Sid, whenever there's any money in it.

Radio

In Bleak Expectations, one of Mr Gently Benevolent's schemes involved persuading Pip Bin to donate all his money to a charity with the initials "G.B"., and to leave long spaces between the initials on the cheque.

Video Games

The "Blight Orfans Notis Bord" in Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening is run by a pair of drunks who try to con the player into giving them stuff, often by stealing from people who the drunks hate. If you only do the quests that don't involve theft, then one of the drunks is humbled by your kindness and creates a real charity.

Web Original

In Atop the Fourth Wall Linkara identifies being involved in charity work as one of the prime signs of someone being a villain.

Western Animation

Wheel Squad: The charity was real. The snakes simply pretended to be a part of it.
Beetlejuice once planned to used one to scam people out of money. At some point, he had a change of heart but someone did steal the money and beetlejuice was Convicted by Public Opinion. Not that it was hard to believe he was guilty given his reputation.

Did you know that All The Tropes is holding a charity fund for widows, orphans, and widowed orphans? Please donate in small, unmarked bills.