Posts Tagged ‘charity’
Helping Haiti? Give Wisely.
January 14th, 2010
by David Vladeck, Guest Blogger
Sometimes, the most difficult situations bring out the best in people. In the aftermath of the earthquakes in Haiti, many people are making financial contributions to support charitable organizations helping with the recovery and reconstruction.
In the past, the FTC has investigated and prosecuted scammers who pretended to represent charities during a crisis. Given this experience, we hope you’ll put some thought into choosing which charity to support.
Our Charity Checklist consumer alert offers tips to ensure that donation dollars benefit the people and organizations you want to help. Be wary of appeals that tug at the heart strings, but are short on details about how disaster victims will benefit.
You don’t have to give to someone who calls, writes or emails you out of the blue. It’s a good idea to give through a website or phone number that you know is legitimate.
To help with relief efforts in Haiti, the U.S. Department of State advises that you can visit InterAction to contribute. Or text “HAITI” to “90999″ and $10 will be given automatically to the Red Cross, charged to your cell phone bill.
Fake-charity scammers are among the most despicable rip-off artists we encounter. It’s difficult to comprehend how someone could see a catastrophe affecting millions as an opportunity to steal, but it happens. So before you give, take a moment to ensure that you’re supporting a legitimate charity.
And if you think you’ve seen a scam, please report it.
Tags: charity, scams
Posted in Scam Watch | 4 Comments »