Feeling generous this holiday season? Investigate before you donate
AUSTIN, Texas - It’s the season of giving, but some are acting more like the Grinch.
"We want to help people, right? We're in the mood and it makes us feel good to help other people," said Mark Kapczynski, senior vice president of strategic partnerships at OneRep. "Fraudsters come after us as potential victims in so many different ways."
They may pull at your heartstrings to get to your pocketbook.
"A few weeks ago, when it was Veterans Day, everything was about military donations…now it's about Israel and Hamas funds. And before it was about the fires in Hawaii," said Kapczynski. "You have to be on red alert as a consumer to be able to sniff out, ‘Is this something legitimate that I should donate to?’"
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It can be harder in the digital age, but there are still ways to vet organizations. Double-check any URLs using sites like Charity Navigator or Charity Watch.
Consumers should also look up the history of the domain itself to see if it has a history of fraud or malicious activity.
"Combining those two elements will give you either comfort or raise the red flag that this is not a legitimate site or a legitimate charity that I should be trying to donate to," said Kapczynski.
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Those who wish to make donations can also use the IRS's Tax-Exempt Organization Search (TEOS) tool to help find or verify qualified, legitimate charities.
Consumers should also be wary of businesses making holiday promises.
"There are a lot of businesses out there, both brick-and-mortar retail as well as online, that are like, ‘Oh, I'll give 10% of the proceeds to XYZ charity," said Kapczynski. "I'd just be careful of those and just make sure that there's some evidence that the business is being legitimate about donating those funds to the said charity."
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