U.S. Attorney Kevin Davidson warns of scams impersonating hurricane relief efforts

U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama Kevin Davidson is warning the public of scammers who are targeting those who want to contribute to hurricane relief efforts. 

“Criminals will use any situation, including natural disasters, to profit from the kindness and generosity of others,” he said. “I encourage all Alabamians to be mindful as they consider participating in donation requests for disaster relief."

"Using the suggestions listed below will help ensure that donations reach their intended recipient and do not get diverted to those who seek only to enrich themselves.”

An announcement from Davidson said that scammers will create fake websites to collect donations or by contacting people through email social media and through texts. 

Davidson advises the public to follow these tips: 

• Make contributions directly to known organizations rather than relying on others to make the donation on your behalf.
• Do not be pressured into making contributions as reputable charities do not use such tactics.
• Do not respond to any unsolicited communications (e.g., e-mails and texts), and never click links contained within those messages because they may be targeting your personal information, to include bank and credit card account information, and other identifiers such as dates of birth and social security numbers.
• Rather than clicking on a purported link to a charity, verify its legitimacy by utilizing various internet-based resources that may assist in confirming whether the organization is a valid charity.
• Beware of organizations with copy-cat names similar to but not exactly the same as those of reputable charities.
• Avoid cash donations if possible. Pay by credit card or write a check directly to the charity. Do not make checks payable to individuals.
• Know that legitimate charities do not normally solicit donations via money transfer services, and their website will normally end in .org rather than .com.
• Be cautious of e-mails that claim to show pictures of the disaster areas in attached files because the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from known senders.

Fraud complaint can be made to the National Center for Disaster Fraud at www.justice.gov/DisasterComplaintForm or by calling 866-720-5721.