"Predatory" Scams-Frauds-Cons

• Only tax deductible (not tax exempt) means you can deduct your contribution on your federal income tax return.

• Beware of fundraisers that use high-pressure appeal, or special favors in exchange for a donation.

• Make donations through organization websites that you access yourself

• Ask for the charities name, address, phone number, and written information about its programs.

• Ask whether the person contacting you is a professional fundraiser and how much of your contribution will go to fundraising costs.

• Check the history of the organization with the office that regulates charities in your state.

• Fictitious charities often throw in words like children, orphan, Christian,  hunger, homeless, or heart tugging words into the name of the organization, asking for a few dollars on average.

• Someone shows up at your door asking for a donation for some cause of the day.

• Donate directly to organizations with an infrastructure, staff, and direct connection to people of the disaster area.

• Asks a potential contributor for bank account or credit card information before the person has reviewed the organizations information and agreed to contribute.

TO FILE A COMPLAINT GO TO THE COMPLAINTS SECTION BY CLICKING HERE  

• Before making a donation, become familiar with active charity organizations.

• Cyber-crooks set up donation websites that appear legitimate. They get your money and credit card information. These sites sometimes have Internet addresses that are similar to those of trusted websites. For example, a site might have the address redcross.com instead of the authentic American Red Cross website.

• You can check out charity organizations at

• Charity Navigator  (201) 818-1288  www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.newratings

• BBB Wise Giving Alliance (703) 276-0100  www.bbb.org/charity 
  American Institute of Philanthropy (773) 529-2300  www.charitywatch.org

• GuideStar  (757) 229-4631 www.guidestar.org
  The Better Business Bureau Wise
  Con-artists provide little realistic information about the charity. Sometimes they offer to send a courier or overnight delivery service to collect your money.

• Be wary of charities that spring up overnight in connection with current events or natural disasters. They may make a compelling case for your money, but as a practical matter, they probably dont have the infrastructure to get your donation to the affected area or people.

• Never send personal information like your Social Security number, date of birth, bank account  or maiden name.

• Some charities hire professional fundraisers for large-scale solicitations. Ask if they are paid fundraisers and the percentage of your donation goes to the function

• This is urgent; we need the money right now. 

• A common trick is to send e-mails with attachments or links that promise to show photographs or videos of the disaster but actually download computer viruses to your machine.

• Do not donate via requests on Facebook, Twitter or other social networking sites. Scammers can be behind those appeals.

• Unless you have signed up to receive email from a charity, do not respond to email charity solicitations. Real charities do not usually recruit new donors by email.

• Do not donate through email links, which can easily be made to look real when in fact they are in no way related to the organization in question.
   

EXAMPLE
Here is a classical email scam proving yet again that scammers have no morals. This one turns out to be a check scam, where you cash a fake check and send the money on to the scammer. A quick Google search also shows that this one has been doing the rounds frequently.

To:.
Subject: please reply
From: FOUNDATION OF HOPE UK <foundation4hope@gmail.com>
Reply-To: foundation.4hope@yahoo.co.uk

I am Sarah Alcott, the Initiator of FOUNDATION OF HOPE UK.

The Foundation for Hope is non-profit and Our Mission is to facilitate inspiring, meaningful outdoor experiences for youth who suffer life-challenging medical conditions. We value, promote and continue to preserve the heritage of the "Outdoor Sportsman."

We have sent letters to well meaning and high net worth individual and Companies in USA/CANADA seeking donations and funding but we usually have donors refusing to send money overseas.

We have willing Donors in CANADA but our websites is still under construction and we need some form of Payment/Liaison Agent urgently in USA/Canada who will among other functions accept checks/drafts on our behalf and we will offer 10% of whatever we get in return.

Would you consider joining us to help make a youth's outdoor dream come true? Whether you give time or financial resources, your involvement will make a significant difference in the life of an individual. I will give details you as soon as I hear from you

Miss Sarah Alcott
FOUNDATION OF HOPE
DEVLIN HOUSE 2D FLOOR,
36 ST GEORGE ST,
MAYFAIR,LONDON W1S 2FW9FA
Registered No. 04292324//ukdata
E-mail - foundation4hope@yahoo.co.uk