Member Alert: Scammers Take Advantage of Notre Dame Tragedy

As you’ve probably seen, the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris caught fire on Tuesday, April 15. Since then, countless charitable organizations have been flooded with generous donations to help repair the damage done by the fire. Unfortunately, scammers have started to exploit this tragedy by posting fake Facebook pages and tweets with misinformation; before long fake charity websites will be popping up everywhere too.

Here are some quick tips to be mindful of when donating.

· Think before you click– Never make a rash decision based on pressure or emotions. Think it over before making any final decisions.

· Be mindful of accepted payment methods– The biggest warning sign of a scam is a payment request via wire transfer, prepaid cards or gift cards. Legitimate charities will never accept these forms of payment.

· Do your research – A quick search can give a lot of information on charity scams. Using a Google search will usually produce the legitimate charity as a top search result.

· Charity Navigator – The easiest way to verify the authenticity of a charity is by visiting www.charitynavigator.org/. This site contains a database of all charities and how legitimate they are.

We encourage anyone who is feeling charitable to donate to a cause that is important to them. Please just make sure you are protecting yourself, and are diligent in your research to prevent scammers from preying on you during times of tragedy.

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