I’m sure you know that the people of Haiti experienced a devastating earthquake. It’s also likely that you donated money to a charitable cause to try to help them with rescue and recovery efforts. What you may not know is that some who tried to donate just like you may have done instead gave money and personal information to charity scammers.
Charity scammers are people who count on tragedies as their bread and butter. When disaster strikes, they aren’t sad or sympathetic, but happy. That’s because when people give en masse, as they do in incredible times of need, it’s easier to get people to fall for their schemes. People are rushing to get aid where it has to go, so they don’t take too much time to research the organizations they are funding. Bad idea.
Some of the organizations people give money to aren’t organizations at all, but instead fake charities that are actually put together by identity thieves. Sometimes the thieves will create a fraudulent website that is optimized to come up first in search engines when people look for terms such as, referring to the earlier example, “Haiti earthquake help.†When people click on the link to the thief’s site, they may find that it has malware running on it that the criminal can now run on their machine. Better yet, for the thief, is when they don’t even realize it’s happening.
Another tactic thieves use is setting up charity phishing sites. Oftentimes, they send out emails asking individuals to donate to a well-known organization, such as the Red Cross, and provide a link that goes to a spoofed site. Or, they create their own fake charity, with a name that is similar to a real one. For example, they may prey on people who want to give to the World Food Program by setting up a site for the International Food Program – the latter of which doesn’t exist.
All this happens fast. In fact, the FBI reports that scammers have been known to have their “charity†sites up within hours of a tragedy. So giving right away doesn’t even help. It’s better to take your time so you know you’re donating to who you think you are.
The first step you should take is just to research the charity. If it’s a well known one, this shouldn’t be too tough. If the organization is more obscure, go to a site like Charity Watch and search for it among the listings. Chances are, if it’s legitimate and U.S. based, it will make an appearance.
The second step is just to be careful when and how you donate. Don’t give to a person who shows up on your doorstep or cold calls you. Instead, contact the charity you’re interested in helping using its official information or through its official website. It’s best to give a check instead of cash or to use your credit card. If you donate cash, you’ve got no recourse if you find there is a problem with your donation.
Lets not make identity theft easy for these criminals especially when one is trying to do a good deed.