- Regina Morrison Newman is the Shelby County Trustee.
Shelby County citizens are some of the most charitable in the nation. Year after year, our community ranks as one of the tops in charitable giving and despite our high poverty rate, we are always willing to help those less fortunate.
Unfortunately, that makes us prime targets for charity scams.
Since 2020 the Better Business Bureau Scamtracker has received 331 local charity scam reports for a loss of $52,731.53 in the Shelby County area.
This scam unfortunately does not get reported often.
Since it is a donation, most of the time people have no idea they have been scammed. With all the mass shootings seemingly happening one on top of the other and the ongoing war in Ukraine, our hearts and purse strings are continually being tugged. Sadly, scammers often take advantage of these moments of vulnerability to deceive donors.
In addition, there are often campaigns set up by well-meaning individuals who may not be able to deliver on promised relief activities. Whenever there is a major humanitarian crisis or terrible tragedy there are 2 things you can count on:
- The generosity of people in Shelby County that want to help and
- Fraudulent charities popping up to take advantage of that generosity.
While we certainly don’t want to deter your desire to donate, we want to help you assure that your donations are going to do the good you intend. For that reason, we worked with our partners at the Better Business Bureau to put together…
