How to Know if a Charity is Real or a Scam

In today's economy everyone is trying to come up with ways to scam people out of their money. Do you know how to tell the real thing from a scam? Here are a few ways to know for sure if you are dealing with a real deal or a fake. The first thing you will hear will be a very high pressure pitch. Do not even listen to it. It is completely alright to just hang up.

Second, never agree to a cash donation of any kind. Never give them your credit or debit card information. If you make a donation government officials say to do it by check so you will have some security and for tax purposes.

Also you should only donate to those you know have a good track record and have been around for a while.

Beware of those who say thank you for a donation you do not even remember making. Be very skeptical of these people as scammers will lie in any way to get your money.

Do not go for those who say they can send an overnight delivery service or courier service to get your money. It is extremely rare to not at all that a real charity will have that type of service.

Then there is the ever popular "You can win....", as long as you buy this and that and the other thing for this amount of money. If they ask you for money upfront before you can even win anything, hang up quickly. It may even be a good idea to report them. You can go online and find out who they are and if they are real. If you can find nothing on them, report them to your Better Business Bureau.

Beware extremely aware of those charities that seem to only come into play after some sort of disaster (natural or otherwise). Also, those who say they have to do with police, firefighters, or veterans. They are more than likely scams in the fact that they really have no way to get your donations to the necessary people.

Federal and state officials have now put out more information to try to keep people from getting scammed by these so called charities.

The Federal Trade Commission and 48 states have, as part of "Operation False Charity" has put an alert online called Avoid Charity Fraud.

You should never make a check payable to an individual only make it in the name of the charity. Also make sure you specifically ask them to send you a receipt (with the name and address of their charity on it) for the exact amount of your donation.

On a personal note...just this week someone called us and wanted us to donate to a charity for a local family whose mother/wife was dying of cancer. I told them to send me some in depth (including family's name, where they live, and other important) information on it, and I would try to send a donation back. They said they could not do that so I hung up. It is truly amazing what lengths people will go to in order to steal money.

So the next time you get a call from a charity, beware! If you have never heard of them then they are probably not the real thing. Do not give your money to people you are not sure of.

Source:

www.wate.com

Personally having someone call us just this week trying to get money for a so called charity