Fraud Tip of the Day - December 4

How to Avoid Holiday Charity Scams

Charities need your help more than ever during the Holidays and our charity scam tips will help you make sure your donation ends up where its needed most; in the hands of the needy.

The Holidays are a time of giving and donating to our favorite charities is a great way to reach out to those in need. Some of the charities contacting you this Holiday season will be sophisticated charity scams after your money. Others may be technically legitimate but will have so much overhead (their payroll) that little of your donation goes ends up supporting the charity.

We advise you to contact charities directly and never make donations to solicitors that contact you via email, phone or come to your front door. Any real charity will understand your desire to make sure your donation isn't stolen or frittered away by fundraising administrative costs.

How to avoid charity scams this Holiday season:

• Be on your guard against charities that use emotional appeals in their fundraisers. Some key elements to look for are the use of children or the mention of recent disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes or tsunamis.
  
  
• Never give money to charities that contact you by phone. If you would like to donate to the charity the telemarketer claims to represent, ask them for their mailing address so that you can mail them a donation directly. Better yet, go to their website or look them up in the phone book and get their contact information yourself.
  
  
• When solicited for a donation, ask how much of your contribution goes towards paying for overhead versus how much will go directly to the cause you wish to support. While you're at it, ask the solicitor whether they're a volunteer or a professional fundraiser. That will give you an immediate idea of how much overhead might be taken out of your donation!
  
  
• When in doubt, call the charity yourself and ask them if they're aware of the solicitations being done in their name. Many cases have been reported of unauthorized fundraising activity. Some of your money may end up in the hands of the needy but only after the solicitors "bills" have been paid.
  
  
• If the telemarketer or solicitor claims that the charity will support local organizations, call these groups to verify the claim. Phony charities often use the names of places in area codes they're calling so that people think their contributions support local causes. People like to help their neighbors, especially during the holidays and scam artists won't hesitate to exploit your kindness. We don't want you to be too afraid to help local charities, but this kind of scam is easy to fall for over the phone.
  
  
• Talk to trusted friends or family members before making a charitable donation. The larger the donation, the longer you should think about it before transferring funds to the charity.
  
  
• Don't provide any credit card or bank account information until you have reviewed all information from the charity and made the decision to donate. Whatever you do, don't give this information to someone initiating contact by phone.
  
  
• Ask for a receipt showing the amount of the contribution and stating that it is tax deductible. Understand that contributions made to a "tax exempt" organization aren't necessarily tax deductible.

Your best bet is to make charitable contributions by check. This is a more secure method and you'll thank yourself at tax time. Make your checks payable to the charity.

Never make checks payable to any fundraiser no matter what excuses they offer!