Requests for pins, badges - is it a scam?

[csirl]

I do some voluntary work for a local sports organisation. Over the past couple of months we've received on average 2 letters a week from either Spain or Portugal which are very similar as follows:

Dear etc.

I am a disabled pin/badge/sticker collector from (insert name of town in Spain/Portugal). I am a big fan of all sports and would like to expand my collection as much as possible. Can you please send me a pin/badge/sticker with your clubs logo so I can add it to my collection etc etc.

The letters are usually hand written in poor english and often includes a poor quality photograph of e.g. a teenage boy in a wheelchair.

To date we havent responded to any of them because it seems too coincidental that we would get so many within a short space of time. A couple of people have said that maybe they want to replicate the badges and sell fakes on the internet, but there would not be a market for them - I dont imagine that there would be much demand in Spain or anywhere else to buy badges/pins from a small local sports organisation.

I assume this is some sort of scam - anyone know what the scam is?

 

[Leo]

A lot of kids collect these badges. Sending requests like that to small clubs is common enough as smaller clubs are more likely to respond favourably. Does your club have an internet presence that they've found? Perhaps your club is listed on some pin-collector websites these people are getting their contacts from?

If they wanted to make up the badges, they wouldn't need to get a physical one to do so, just an image. Anyone interested in selling knock-off badges is only going to go for the high-volume sellers like Barcelona, ManU, etc.
Leo