subject: Katrina Charity Relief Scams [print this page] Con artists will move fast to take money meant for Hurricane Katrina victims that need to have it essentially the most.
Benevolent organizations are increasing their fundraising efforts to try and meet the needs of people who's lives have been devastated by Hurricane Katrina. At the same time, scam artists are devising phony charity schemes to trick men and women into donating their cash to criminals. Everytime there's a major catastrophe scammers know that it is a perfect time to rip off customers by conning them into giving funds to their bogus benevolent organizations. Mere days after the tsumani hit southeast Asia issues about Tsunami-related fraud began to flood in. This isn't the first disaster to be exploited by scammers and it won't be the last so pay attention to who you donate cash to every time.
Scam artists use names that sound like true causes to confuse you
One of probably the most typical tactics of a fake charity would be to use a respectable sounding name or something that's extremely close to a real charity inside the hopes that you simply might mistake them. Numerous people are fooled in this way. This really should not deter you from giving dollars at a time of good have to have but it's wise to make sure which you know who you might be dealing with so that the cash does not go to fund some slimy criminals drug practice.
Unfortunately, hoaxes like this that prey on good-hearted folks persist to occur for one particular easy reason - they work.
Here are some useful solutions for individuals who would like to give to authentic charitable aids with out being victimized by con artists:
* Certainly not respond to any unwanted SPAM e-mails.
* Be leery of e-mails that claim to show photos of your catastrophe areas in attached files, as the files may well include viruses. Only open attachments from well-known senders.
* In no way send funds to cellphone solicitors representing causes that you have never ever heard of. In the event you need to make a donation to a trigger for instance relief for Katrina victims, make it via a well-known relief organization such as World Vision or the American Red Cross.
* Beware of charities with names comparable to those to well-known charitable groups. A excellent method to make certain that a charity is genuine is to look it up in the mobile phone book or even on the internet. A legitimate charity will have tax status to match its non-profit organization structure. When in doubt, explore.
* Do not, under any circumstance, give your credit card info to unidentified benevolent organizations over the telephone or to door-to-door solicitors. If you name a well-known charity on your own it's okay to present out the data.
* If a charity wants to send a courier to pick up the donation you may bet that they are scammers. Please note that allowing this also provides a security risk to you at your place.
Katrina "Inside Job" Hoaxes
Appearing as a charity is 1 method to bilk the public out of money intended to assist hurricane victims but posing as a victim is another good solution to defraud causes and government institutions tring to assist Katrina victims get back on their feet. In a single case 22 people today at a Red Cross call middle filed false claims and had family members pretend to be victims in order to collect aid funds. Name middle agents take calls where Katrina victims are only required to provide their title, address and date of birth due to the fact with the big numbers people today needing to be processed. The call center agents had been then supposed to confirm and approve the claim prior to issuing a number in order that victims could receive payments.
This system was effortless to exploit and before long name agents were creating fake accounts and making multiple trips to Western Union outlets which finally raised suspicions which led to this schemes undoing.
