Complaint Review: Hurricane Harvey

Donors Beware of Hurricane Harvey Charity Scams!

While natural disasters such as Hurricane Harvey brings out the best in people, it also brings out the worst in Scammers, who are quick to take advantage. 

As people see the visuals of the hurricane’s devastation, they are moved to want to help the survivors and families of the victims. Naturally they’ll seek out a charity they can donate to. 

Scammers take full advantage of people’s generosity by posing as fake charities. But instead of collecting money to help victims, they keep the money for themselves.

These evil-doers are already sending emails, text messages, mail solicitations, and will soon appear at your door asking for money, under false pretenses.  They will also create fake websites that will use similar charity names. These fake websites capture unsuspecting victims who innocently enter their credit card info to make a donation.

You can never be sure whether the person contacting you is legitimate or not!

FOLLOW THESE IMPORTANT TIPS:

1.)    Go directly to the charity yourself. You can find the address of a charity’s website and either mail a check or go directly to the charity’s website (by typing in the website address yourself) and make your donation online.

2.)    Look for the padlock symbol and the website address to start with https, not just http.  The “s” stands for a secure website. Also, realize that most charity websites will end in “.org”, not “.com”.  Be careful of making typos when entering web addresses too.

3.)    Never, ever click on links in an email, no matter how legitimate the email looks! The US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) is reminding everyone that malware purveyors frequently use natural disasters and breaking news stories to trick people into clicking on malicious links or opening up booby-trapped email attachments.

4.)    Be careful of what you see on your ‘Caller ID’. Most phone numbers are “spoofed” to look like the call is coming from a charity, when in fact, it’s a scammer calling. 

5.)    Telemarketers who call you, representing a charity, receive a commission for each donation they receive. So only about half of your donation actually goes to help the charity.  Besides, how can you be sure that the person calling you is from a legitimate charity?  You can’t! 

6.)    To check out a charity, you should go to charitynavigator.org.  Their website helps you determine if a charity is legitimate. You can also learn how much of the money a charity collects, actually goes to the people they are supposed to be helping.  

Here are the names of a few charities that are providing assistance in the wake of Hurricane Harvey: Americares, International Relief Teams, Direct Relief, Global Giving, Save the Children and the American Red Cross. Charitynavigator.org also provides a list of local organizations, located in the most affected areas, who are providing support to people and animals.