Wednesday, June 22, 2011

BBB Warns Consumers About Potential for Fire-Related Charity Scams

The Better Business Bureau is warning consumers about bogus charities that could be set up pretending to help fire victims. Many scam artists will try to contact consumers and businesses by phone, mail, or door to door and use high pressure sales tactics to get donations.

The Better Business Bureau suggests that you make sure that the charity you are contributing to is the one you think it is. Scam artists often use names that sound very similar to mainstream relief organizations.

Make sure the organization is experienced in disaster relief. There are many logistics involved with getting relief to victims, and you’ll want to select charities that have proven track records handling those situations.

Don’t write a check to an individual unless you know the person well. Make checks out to the actual relief organization.

If donating online, search the Website to make sure that the charity has a physical address on the site and that you’re using a secure site when entering account information. A Website is secure if an “s” is located at the end of the “http” in the URL.

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