Beware of Fake Fundraising Emails!
By
Staten Island, NY Posted: 12/26/2016 1:00:00 AM
Beware... Fake fundraising emails are on the rise!
Over the last few months, I've noticed a rise in the number of fake fundraising emails. Most of them were election related, but the fact remains, there are now spammers making money off of unsuspecting people who THINK they're supporting a worthy cause.
It's harder for people to realize they've been taken advantage of, because unlike buying something from a spammer, when you make a donation you don't expect to receive a product in the mail.
This is particularly disturbing because it means that people are not only sending money to criminals, but they are also depriving legitimate charities of their donations.
I received so many fraudulent emails from both sides during the election I lost count. I even received some of them on the night before the election, which made no sense at all. What good would a donation be if it was received the night before the election?
Thankfully, the election is over, but if these spammers made any money at all, they're most likely going to target other worthy causes.
The main problem is that many people can't tell the difference between a fake fundraising email, and a real one. Without a trained eye, it's hard to tell them apart. Fake emails often contain realistic artwork and photos, and they link back to equally realistic looking websites. The key is learning to look for the URL at the top, to see if it uses the organization's legitimate domain name.
Most of the time, a legitimate charity will have:
1. A .ORG domain, instead of .COM or some other extension.
2. An SLL security certificate, which means the site uses https: instead of http:, It also means it should display the organization's official name to the left of the domain.
The tricky thing is the email might even show you a legitimate URL in the message, but when you hover over it, it actually leads you to some other website, so the key is to look at the URL in the website after you clicked it
If you are unsure of whether a fundraising email is fake or not, the safest thing to do is ignore it, and do your own homework to find the charity on your own.
Joe Crescenzi, Founder
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