Fraudsters use a variety of ways to get donations that are supposed to go to disaster victims.
Many of them use emails to move you to donate. Be safe and don’t click links in these emails; instead, go directly to a charity’s site.
Thoroughly check charities that:
- Claim 100 percent of donations go to victims.
- Fundraise through crowdfunding — they may not be vetted.
- Don’t have representation in the disaster area.
- Are fundraising for other groups.
Before you donate, find ways to research charities at ftc.gov/charity or check out the BBB evaluations at give.org.
