TIPS ON AVOIDING FRAUDULENT CHARTIABLE CONTRIBUTION SCHEMES (DoJ PR)

[nitpicker]

https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/tips-avoiding-fraudulent-chartiable-contribution-schemes

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Central District of California

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, August 31, 2017

TIPS ON AVOIDING FRAUDULENT CHARTIABLE CONTRIBUTION SCHEMES

BATON ROUGE, LA - The National Center for Disaster Fraud reminds the public to be aware of and report any instances of alleged fraudulent activity related to relief operations and funding for victims. Unfortunately, criminals can exploit disasters, such as Hurricane Harvey, for their own gain by sending fraudulent communications through email or social media and by creating phony websites designed to solicit contributions.

Tips should be reported to the National Center for Disaster Fraud at [phone]. The line is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Additionally, e-mails can be sent to [e-mail](link sends e-mail), and information can be faxed to [phone].
(snip)

The public should remember to perform due diligence before giving contributions to anyone soliciting donations or individuals offering to provide assistance to those affected by the tornadoes. Solicitations can originate from social media, e-mails, websites, door-to-door collections, flyers, mailings, telephone calls, and other similar methods.

Before making a donation of any kind, consumers should adhere to certain guidelines, including:

•Do not respond to any unsolicited (spam) incoming e-mails, including clicking links contained within those messages, because they may contain computer viruses.

•Be skeptical of individuals representing themselves as members of charitable organizations or officials asking for donations via e-mail or social networking sites.

•Beware of organizations with copy-cat names similar to but not exactly the same as those of reputable charities.

•Rather than follow a purported link to a website, verify the legitimacy of nonprofit organizations by utilizing various Internet-based resources that may assist in confirming the group’s existence and its nonprofit status.

•Be cautious of e-mails that claim to show pictures of the disaster areas in attached files because the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from known senders.

•To ensure contributions are received and used for intended purposes, make contributions directly to known organizations rather than relying on others to make the donation on your behalf.
(snip)

[JimGinPA]

1. K&R

[gratuitous]

2. Really good tips

It's unutterably sad that when a disaster strikes and people are moved to help, a flock of vultures descends to scam on the relief efforts. But as currently constituted, our nation cannot possibly stop these predators.