Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry is warning the public about charity scams following the recent devastating floods across Louisiana.  This kind of natural disaster  brings out the best in our fellow citizens, many of whom desire to give to charities to help the victims of disasters like this.  Unfortunately, it also brings out the worst in scammers  who are quick to take advantage of the generosity of people by contacting them, posing as charities, but instead of collecting funds to help the victims of these natural disasters, the scam artists steal the money for themselves under false pretenses.   Charities are not subject to the federal Do Not Call List so even if you are enrolled in the Do Not Call List, legitimate charities are able to contact you.  The problem is that whenever you are contacted on the phone, you can never be sure as to who is really calling you so you may be contacted either by a phony charity or a scammer posing as a legitimate charity.  Similarly, when you are solicited for a charitable contribution by email or text message, you cannot be sure as to whether the person contacting you is legitimate or not.

TIPS

Never provide credit card information over the phone to anyone whom you have not called or in response to an email or text message.  Before you give to any charity, you may wish to check out the charity with http://www.charitynavigator.org where you can learn whether or not the charity itself is a scam.  You can also see how much of the money that the charity collects actually goes toward its charitable purposes and how much it uses for fund raising and administrative costs.  If you do wish to make a donation to a charity, go to the real charity’s website or call them at a telephone number that you know is accurate in order to make your donation rather than responding to a telephone call or electronic communication.  Charitynavigator.org lists some highly rated charities involved with Louisiana flood relief, which you may wish to consider if you are thinking about making such a charitable gift.  They are the American Red Cross, Convoy of Hope and the United Way of Southeast Louisiana.  Below are links to their pages on Charitynavigator.org that describes the charities in detail as well as provide a link to make a donation if you are so inclined.

https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3277

https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=7276

https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=4626