Veteran Scams ► How They Work Some charities raise funds to support members of the Armed Forces and their families. But not all of these "charities" are the real deal. BBB Military Line and BBB Wise Giving Alliance remind you to do a little research first to make sure your contributions go to actual causes and not scammers' pocket How the Scam Works: · You receive a solicitation from a charity that claims it is collecting donations to help veterans. It may take the form of a postcard in the mail, an email message, a social media post or even a person going door-to-door. · But just because the solicitation claims that it is collecting money for veterans' causes, doesn't mean the funds are really going there. Charity fraud varies from outright scams to a misrepresentation of how much of a donation actually goes to help veterans. (such as the elaborate con that landed its perpetrator John Donald Cody, 67, a 28-year prison sentence last year – see hthttp://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/12/bobby_thompson_sentenced_to_x.html). Be sure that your donation ends up helping veterans by following these tips from BBB Wise Giving Alliance. To Protect Yourself from Veterans Charity Scams check out BBB Wise Giving Alliance's complete list of tips on their website.http://give.org/for-donors/about-specific-giving-guidance/basic-giving-tips. Some of these are:
To learn more about scammers posing as veterans charities, check out the alert from the FTC at http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0121-charitable-solicitations-vet-military-families. To find out more about other scams, check the BBB Scam Stopper http://www.bbb.org/council/bbb-scam-stopper. Source: BBB Scam Alert, November 07, 2014 |