Plumber accused of pocketing thousands from charity fundraisers

A plumber who claimed to be a charity fundraiser is accused of pocketing thousands from people who thought they were helping the needy.

Former soldier Mike Handley told A Current Affair he paid a man named Daniel Clarke $2500 to organise a fundraising dinner for Redsix, a group trying to lower suicide rates among veterans.

But just before the function, Mr Handley said, he discovered Mr Clarke had done almost nothing.

"We'd paid money to him in booking fees, to book all these people, who my wife called after we had been alerted no-one had been booked," he said.

He said "all bar one" of the people his wife Rachael had called told him they had never had any contact with Mr Clarke.

"I just couldn't understand or comprehend how or why someone would want to take advantage of others that are just putting our own money up front and on hold to look after others," Mrs Handley said.

"I went through every emotion from anger to depression."

Mr Handley said Mr Clarke also charged him $850 for another veterans' charity day at indoor skydiving centre iFLY.

But Mr Handley claimed he later found out iFLY had put the day on for free.

Another army veteran, Cory Camps, said he had paid $2400 in an online charity auction organised by Mr Clarke.

He won, but said he never received the prize - a day's surfing with icon Mick Fanning and a tour of the Balter Brewery for him and two friends.

"I was a bit gutted but moreso, it was a fair bit of money," Mr Camps said.

Mr Camps said Mr Clarke needed to be "accountable for his actions".

When contacted by A Current Affair, Fanning said via text that it was the first he'd heard of the fundraiser, and that the brewery had indicated to him they had not agreed to be part of it either.

However, the surfing champ said he would reach out to Mr Camps to try to make it up to him.

Lakelands Golf Club operations manager claimed Mr Clarke owed him between $5000 and $5500.

He said late last year, Mr Clarke approached the club wanting to put on a charity golf day to raise money for father of three Casey Townsend, who was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

Because the club had to shut the course for a day, Mr Beste said they offered to do it at the cost price of $5323, but he claimed Mr Clarke never paid in spite of a successful event.

"No-one wants to miss out on funds that are owed to them," Mr Beste said.

"It's not easy to write off that amount these days."

It's alleged the event raised an estimated $15,000.

The Townsend family, who were supposed to benefit from the day, claim they didn't receive anything from Mr Clarke until six months later, when he passed on $10,000.

They say they were told more funds would arrive, but so far there's no sign of the extra cash.

Mr Beste said the golf club had now put their debt in the hands of a debt collector, and contacted police.

Mr Clarke was last July declared bankrupt with depts of almost $170,000.

He refused to comment when approached by A Current Affair.