COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — When tragedy strikes in the United States, people, including folks in Colorado, jump in to help.
"Americans are some of the most giving people on the planet in terms of when you look at the overall value of what they give to charitable causes," Jonathan Liebert the CEO and Executive Director of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) in Southern Colorado explained.
It is that giving nature that criminals try to prey upon. Hundreds of crisis charity scams popped up at the start of the War in Ukraine, and Liebert believes the same is happening with the wildfires burning in Los Angeles.
"I think you gotta be really, really careful when you're giving money to anybody now, you gotta do your research," Liebert explained. "We tell everybody, do your homework when you're talking about business purchases, online purchases. You gotta be really careful. And unfortunately, from the standpoint of giving money away to a charitable organization. You have to do your homework as well."
The homework is becoming more challenging with scammers utilizing technology to target victims. Liebert explained that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the big reasons there has been a big increase in charity scams since the pandemic. Liebert explained their tactics are getting better when it comes to targeting people with what they care about.
"Sadly, scammers know this, and they're going to take advantage of it, and so they're going to try to prey on your emotions," Liebert said. "To prey on the things that you care about from a community, or your Facebook profile, your social media stuff is all out there for them to take a look at. This is all socially engineered, and using AI to figure out new scams and new ways to do these types of new scams. You're going to see they're going to become more sophisticated."
Some charity scams may take on the appearance of well-known and well-established organizations.
"You can create a website using AI in 10 seconds," Liebert warned. "If you wanna replicate an existing one, it's gonna make it just that much easier to do. And so you really gotta make sure you're taking care, doing your research. And If there's someone that's odd or just feels wrong, trust your gut."
Liebert offered up tips that are in line with the International Association of Better Business Bureaus:
- Watch out for charity name confusion. Be alert to questionable groups seeking to confuse donors with names that sound similar to charities you know.
- Resist pressure to give on the spot. Don’t give in to excessive pressure on the phone to make an immediate donation.
- Find out more about the charity. The charity’s website provides access to information on its programs, board roster and finances. Groups may also be verified through government registration. About 40 of the 50 states in the U.S. require charities to register with the with the attorney general’s office or secretary of state’s office. In Canada, check with the Canada Revenue Agency.
- Watch out for vague program descriptions. Be alert for overly emotional charitable appeals that say little about what the charity intends to do to address the problems identified.
- Check for BBB charity accreditation. Visit charity reports on Give.org to verify if the organization meets the 20 BBB Standard for Charity Accountability (i.e., a BBB Accredited Charity.) There is no charge to charities for accreditation.
"I would say what you probably want to be more careful for are like these new nonprofits, these new charities that pop up," Liebert included. "But again, be aware that they will try to copy reputable ones, but you probably will see more, because it's typically easier to just we're going to start one from scratch."
News5 also talked to Liebert about transaction fees associated with legitimate organizations. Click here for more on that topic.
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