VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A Vancouver festival wants you to be very cautious when handing over a donation to a volunteer.

Ana David with Vancouver’s Latin Summer Fest says $3,000 was stolen from them and they suspect a woman volunteer is responsible.

Her claim comes days after Vancouver Police said $9,000 in cash vanished from the Pride Society just before this summer’s parade, while $3,000 in cash disappeared from the Taiwanese festival last year.

Police have released a photo of a woman of interest whom they want to speak with, but David says it’s not the same person she believes stole from her group.

“It’s very easy to do an ID and have your picture on it that says whatever festival and ‘I’m working with this festival,’ so the people never questioned her,” she says.  “We found out eventually, after it was too late, vendors starting phoning us saying, ‘Where’s my receipt?’”

“It’s quite easy for someone to say, ‘I’m going to be your volunteer, I want to help you out,’ she adds.  “Then they go off on their own and they say, ‘I work for the Latin festival’ or the Caribbean festival or whoever it is, and they acquire money on behalf of the festival we don’t even know about.”

David says you need to make sure a festival is legitimate before you hand over a donation, but admits festivals need to do a better job of screening volunteers.

“[But] if somebody runs…a criminal record check and there’s no record, we’re nowhere,” she says.