These days it is so easy to fall prey to a scam. Those with low literacy levels are the most likely to be scammed. Recently Literacy Outreach has been the target of a door to door donation scam. This common type of scam involves someone coming to your front door and seeking donations in an organizations’ name, such as Literacy Outreach.
Non-profits rely on donations to carry out their missions. Scams such as these do irreparable harm to the non-profit. Please help us stop this type of crime. Take photos of the solicitor, get their license plate number and contact information. Please share this information with local law enforcement.
The FTC offers these tips to avoid this type of scam.
- Don’t let anyone rush you into making a donation.
- Don’t feel pressured to donate. Scammers will say anything to get you to give them money. They may say you already pledged to make the donation, or that you donated to them last year. They may even send you a mailer that says you already pledged. Don’t let that pressure you into paying what could be a scammer.
- Don’t trust your caller ID. Technology makes it easy for scammers to have caller ID say the call comes from anywhere, including your local area code, or from a particular name. In reality, the caller could be anywhere in the world. If you want your donation to help your local community, ask questions about where your donation will be used and how much of your donation will be spent there.
- Check out the name of the charity, especially if it sounds like a well-known organization. Some scammers use names that sound a lot like other charities to trick you.
- Watch out for solicitations that give lots of vague and sentimental claims, but give you no specifics about how your donation will be used.
- If someone is guaranteeing you sweepstakes winnings in exchange for a contribution, that’s a scam.
