Safe charitable giving during the holidays
Roseville, Calif.- The holiday season is traditionally a season for giving. Many of us are thinking about those less fortunate than we are. Others are looking to take advantage of tax breaks before the year end.
Whatever the reason, to help to make sure you have a positive outcome, be aware, scammers are very active this time of year. Charity scams appear in various shapes and sizes.
Online giving
There’s been a lot growth in online scamming over the past year, many bad-actors are purporting to be charities requesting donations. Even if you recognize a respected charity name, don’t assume the request is really coming from them. Take a close look at the name of the sender. Does it really show an email address pertaining to that charity? Charity webmails usually end in “.org”. If not, it is probably a scam. Don’t click on or open any links on these messages. Doing so may give the sender access to personal information on your computer and in some cases gives the sender control over your computer.
Unsolicited phone calls
Phone scamming continues to increase. It’s estimated over 59 million US residents lost money from a phone scam in 2021. Legitimate charities rarely make random calls for donations. The easy way to avoid scam calls is to just not answer calls if you don’t recognize the caller. Most of these calls are automated (Robocalls) and never leave a voicemail. Never call a phone number back if they don’t leave a…
