Agencies crack down on fradulent veterans' charities

Posted: Jul 20, 2018 / 05:50 PM CDT

Updated: Jul 20, 2018 / 05:50 PM CDT

The Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau created a campaign called Operation “Donate with Honor” to educate consumers against veterans’ charities scams going on.

Jenn Love, with the Better Business Bureau of Acadiana, says “So what scammers do.. they take legitimate charities and they make a name very similar to it or sometimes they even duplicate the same name and then they call around or they set up sites and they ask for donations such as money or items and then they take all these items that they have and they sell them for profit and they keep that plus the donations as well.”

One tip that consumers should look out for is avoiding on the spot charity donation decisions.

“A red flag for scams is high pressure on the spot donations. You need to have time to research who you’re donating to and scammers are aware of that so that’s why they want you to donate right away so you don’t have time to actually look up their charity,” Love adds.

When scammers affect the public once, it makes it hard for them to want to donate again.

Love explains, “It’s such a shame. Americans are just so grateful for our heroes and then people prey on that generosity and that gratitude and they’re scamming people out of that and making up all these different things. And it’s such a shame because when you scam somebody once, they’re never going to donate again.”

Here is a list of BBB Accredited Charities that support programs assisting veterans and/or active-duty military personnel and that meet all 20 BBB Standards for Charity Accountability: