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March 15, 2011<\/p>\n
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Contact: NCL Communications, (202) 835-3323, media@nclnet.org<\/p>\n
Washington, DC\u2014Over the years, opportunistic con artists have exploited both natural disasters and terrorist attacks to bilk generous consumers attempting to make financial contributions to rescue efforts, warns the National Consumers League. The recent devastating earthquake and Tsunami in Japan will likely be no exception.<\/p>\n
NCL, the nation\u2019s oldest consumer advocacy organization, collects consumers\u2019 complaints of telemarketing and Internet fraud through NCL\u2019s Fraud Center (www.fraud.org<\/a>), and anticipates it will soon receive reports of tsunami-related scams.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the days following a natural disaster, we often hear from consumers about crooks\u2019 attempts to take advantage of tragic events for their personal gain,\u201d said John Breyault, Director of NCL\u2019s Fraud Center.<\/p>\n After the September 11th<\/sup>\u00a0terrorist attacks, as well as after Hurricane Katrina and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, NCL\u2019s Fraud Center received reports of a variety of scams tailored by con artists to capitalize on the rescue efforts. Scams typically involve con artists sending out emails purporting to come from a known and respected charity such as the Red Cross or Oxfam International.\u00a0Victims are then directed to a fake Web site made to look like a legitimate charity’s site, where they are asked to hand over personal information or to donate via wire transfer, PayPal, or a credit or bank account. The scammer then makes off with the donation, and no funds are sent to support actual disaster relief.<\/p>\n \u201cThe continued tragedy of fraud perpetrated in the wake of such disasters is that charity scams not only rob the donors,\u201d said Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director. \u201cThey divert contributions from legitimate charities, who are in great need for money and goods to assist those who need it most.”<\/p>\n NCL warns consumers to be especially wary of emails from strangers. While many legitimate companies, organizations, and individuals are using the Internet to mobilize help for disaster victims and share information about the latest developments, crooks may use email or social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter to reach a wide audience of potential victims.<\/p>\n \u201cBe cautious about any solicitation that mentions the disaster. Consumers interested in giving to the relief effort should give to charities they know and trust,\u201d said Breyault. \u201cConsumers who want to support disaster relief should contact respected charities directly to make a contribution.\u201d<\/p>\n Additional tips for avoiding charity scams include:<\/strong><\/p>\n Be wary of clicking on links or on attached files labeled photos or video in emails from senders claiming to represent charities because they may contain viruses.<\/p>\n Consumers can confirm that charities are properly registered by contacting their state charities regulators, which are listed in the state government pages of their telephone books. Information about charities is also available from the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance, 703-276-0100,\u00a0www.give.org.<\/em>Consumers can also check out charities at\u00a0<\/em>GuideStar (https:\/\/www.guidestar.org\/), and Charity Navigator (https:\/\/www.charitynavigator.org\/), both of which contain links to legitimate charities working on the relief effort.<\/p>\n Consumers can report disaster-related telemarketing or Internet fraud to NCL\u2019s Fraud Center via the online complaint form on\u00a0www.fraud.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n ###<\/p>\n About the National Consumers League<\/strong><\/p>\n Founded in 1899, the National Consumers League\u00a0<\/strong>is America\u2019s pioneer consumer organization. Its mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. NCL is a private, nonprofit membership organization. For more information, visit\u00a0www.nclnet.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" March 15, 2011 Contact: NCL Communications, (202) 835-3323, media@nclnet.org Washington, DC\u2014Over the years, opportunistic con artists have exploited both natural disasters and terrorist attacks to bilk generous consumers attempting to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1625"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1625"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11075,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1625\/revisions\/11075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}