A word to the wise... it's a sad, but true, reality of life that while some disaster situations bring out the best in most people, there is a small contingent of scum-sucking riff-raff who try to profit from the losses and tragedies of others. And I'm talking about more than just your average looter this time.
This article in today's New York Times says that the state of Missouri is suing, and trying to shut down, a so-called non-profit charity with a "constellation of web sites" that allege to be collecting donations for Katrina relief efforts on behalf of legitimate charities such as the Red Cross and Salvation Army. This group of sites are apparently owned and operated by an individual who is affiliated with a radio program and another web site with ties to Neo-Nazi and anti-Semetic organizations. Missouri officials have reason to believe that the funds collected through these web sites will never be sent to the actual relief effort for Katrina victims.
Although I'm sure there will be, or already are, other post-Katrina scams being run, I thought I'd go ahead and warn you to avoid THESE that were listed in the article (I do not provide live links to these sites since I don't want anyone to visit them and hopefully they will all be shut down within a day or so):
- InternetDonations.org (a.k.a. Internet Donations Point)
- KatrinaFamilies.com (a.k.a. Katrina Families)
- KatrinaFund.name (a.k.a. Katrina Fund Site One - "The Trusting Gateway For Donations to Hurricane Charity Funds")
- KatrinaFund.ws (a.k.a. Katrina Fund Site Two)
- NewOrleansCharities.com (a.k.a. New Orleans Charities - "Makes it easy to donate in one minute to the effort")
- Donate-Katrina.com (a.k.a. Katrina Hurrican Center)
- ChristianDonations.org (a.k.a. Christian Donations)
- ParishDonations.org (a.k.a. Parish Donations)
- ClergyDonations.org (a.k.a. Clergy Donations)
- Katrina-Donations.com (a.k.a. Donate Katrina)
- InternetDonations.us (a.k.a. The Hurricane Consortium)
All of these sites use similar photos and images, and cleverly word what they offer to give the perception that they are legit collection points, making it "easy" for you to donate to the charities with "one stop shopping" -- but when you click on the Make a Donation buttons they all point back to the same place - a PayPal front-end for InternetDonations.org - which according to their non-profit charter document issued by the state of Missouri, incorporated itself just this past Friday, September 2, 2005. How convenient, eh?
(And don't blame PayPal - it's not up to them to know how funds are used when someone pays for something using their service. If this "charity" has a valid bank account - and with a non-profit corporate charter, they'd have no trouble opening a bank account - that's all PayPal needs to verify - the rest is Carpe Diem.)
Bottom line: give 'til it hurts - but make sure you give to organizations that you KNOW are "safe". The real "name brand" charities such as RedCross.org and Salvation Army already have their own collection web sites and 800 numbers - they don't use, or need, outside web sites to collect FOR them. If you have doubts about whether someone - anyone, on the web or on the street in your hometown - is going to actually give funds to one of these charities they are allegedly collecting for, then do the smart thing and donate DIRECTLY to the organization of your choice.
