From Detective Phil Swan, of the Fargo Police Department:
As the south east of our country is recovering from a hurricane please keep in mind that after tragedies
like this, fraudsters will take the opportunity to take advantage of your generosity. Fraudsters can set
up fraudulent GoFundme, Facebook, etc accounts easily and any money that goes to the fraudsters will
not be helping the rebuilding efforts. As a detective I have seen situations where gofundme accounts
have been created before the victims of the event have even had a chance to think about it.
Please do
your research and provide money through reputable sources that you know will be well used.
Examples
are donating through your church, the Red Cross or other reputable charities.
Before donating please
look at the tips below which are provided the US Department of Justice:
Do not respond to any unsolicited (spam) incoming e-mails, including clicking links contained
within those messages, because they may contain computer viruses.
Be skeptical of individuals representing themselves as members of charitable organizations or
officials asking for donations via e-mail or social networking sites.
Beware of organizations with copy-cat names similar to but not exactly the same as those of
reputable charities.
Rather than follow a purported link to a website, verify the legitimacy of nonprofit organizations
by utilizing various Internet-based resources that may assist in confirming the group’s existence
and its nonprofit status.
Be cautious of e-mails that claim to show pictures of the disaster areas in attached files because
the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from known senders.
To ensure contributions are received and used for intended purposes, make contributions directly
to known organizations rather than relying on others to make the donation on your behalf.
Do not be pressured into making contributions; reputable charities do not use such tactics.
Be aware of whom you are dealing with when providing your personal and financial information.
Providing such information may compromise your identity and make you vulnerable to identity
theft.
Avoid cash donations if possible. Pay by credit card or write a check directly to the charity. Do not
make checks payable to individuals.
Legitimate charities do not normally solicit donations via money transfer services. Most
legitimate charities’ websites end in .org rather than .com.
If you believe that you are getting contacted by a fraudster please forward tips to the National Center
for Disaster Fraud at (866) 720-5721. The line is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Additionally,
e-mails can be sent to disaster@leo.gov
Thank you for helping others in their time of
need.
For more information see the Department of Justice’s website below:
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/tips-avoiding-frau…
(Amy Iler & JJ Gordon are talk-show hosts at 790 AM KFGO in Fargo-Moorhead. “It Takes 2 with Amy & JJ” can be heard weekdays 11am-2pm. Follow Amy on Twitter @AmyKFGO. Follow JJ on Twitter @JJGodon701.)
