California Fires: Charity Scams Outlook

Natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes and the ongoing wildfires in California have become common occurrences. The California Wildfires which began on January 7th have displaced close to 200,000 people and already caused damage of at least 135 billion dollarsMarketWatch reported.

These natural disasters can bring out the best in people who want to donate to charities to help the victims. However, unfortunately they also can bring out the worst in scammers who are quick to take advantage of the generosity of people by contacting them posing as charities. Instead of collecting funds to help the victims of these natural disasters, these scam artists steal the money for themselves.

Charities are not subject to the federal Do Not Call List. So even if you are signed up for the federal Do Not Call List, legitimate charities are able to contact you by phone. The problem is that whenever you get a phone call, you can never be sure as to who is really calling you so you. So, you may be contacted either by a fake charity or a scammer posing as a legitimate charity.