Black Friday and Cyber Monday are now well-known names for holiday store sales, and they have become annual traditions for millions of shoppers trying to save money, either by buying for themselves or for gifts for others. Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday is just three days later. While Black Friday has sales for goods of almost all types, Cyber Monday is supposed to focus on computers, cell phones, televisions and other electronics. The day after Cyber Monday has become known as Giving Tuesday.
Giving Tuesday was created in 2012 as a day that encourages people to do good, and according to the Giving Tuesday organization’s website, it has become “an independent nonprofit and a global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity.” Usually on Giving Tuesday, Americans are encouraged to support others, often through donations to charitable organizations.
The day of Giving Tuesday is an annual reminder to think about supporting your favorite causes, charities, other organizations, family or friends. That day is also an opportunity for fraudsters to take advantage of their unsuspecting targets’ generosity and take their money by imitating real charities or actual victims of hardship. While the U.S. government has some useful advice on donating safely this month, here are some additional tips to avoid charity scams and make your donations help those who are truly in need and deserving of your hard-earned money:
- Before giving, remember that donating to organizations that are designated as charities by the federal government’s Internal Revenue Service could mean that the donation may be tax deductible—but often donations must be made before year-end, December 31, to be used for the current year’s taxes. Before deciding if any donation may be tax deductible in your situation, read the Internal Revenue Service’s guidelines on charitable donations carefully and consider consulting a financial service professional with experience in personal tax matters.
- Donate to charities you have heard of and trust. Watch out for fake names that look similar to the names of real charities and for unexpected emails asking for donations. Be especially cautious of any new charity that appears to have suddenly popped up in response to specific current tragic situation, such as a war (or other armed conflict), famine, political-economic collapse, natural disaster or other crisis that is receiving a lot of news media coverage. Established large national or international charities may also be supporting a recent event, so research whether a recently created organization dedicated to a single cause is the most appropriate receiver of your funds.
- Research any organization you might give money to and confirm that it is authentic. Search the name online and include additional terms such as “complaint,” “review,” “rating” or “scam” to see if the organization has received complaints or been involved in any inappropriate activities that are inconsistent with its stated mission. Check out charities with what may be useful information and suggestions from the Better Business Bureau, Charity Navigator, Charity Watch or Candid.
- Is the organization(s) a legitimate non-profit according to U.S. government tax regulations? To be considered a non-profit by the federal government, it must officially fall within the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) regulations, section 501(c); most charitable organizations have the tax-exempt legal status of 501(c)(3). The charity should be able to give you confirmation of both its 501(c)(3) status and also a record of your donation for your personal tax deduction purposes.
- Confirm the organization’s phone number before texting a donation from your mobile phone. Go to the charity’s website to confirm the donation phone number.
- Be certain that any donation page is encrypted for personal and financial information. A charity should use online encryption to transmit information from your browser to their computer servers hosting the website and enabling financial transactions. Look in your browser’s top address bar to make sure the website address begins with “https:” instead of “http:.” The in https:// means that the website is encrypted with a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) that should protect your private information from being exposed to hackers. The site may also display visual confirmation of SSL with a very small icon of a locked padlock showing up on the left side of the website address. Be extremely cautious of entering payment information for any site that doesn’t indicate that your personal details, including those from your financial account, are encrypted.
- Be cautious about donating to a person on a crowdfunding site. Some scammers pretend to collect money for a charitable cause, but they are really stealing money from well-intentioned donors who are tricked into giving money to an imposter. It would be safer to consider giving funds to someone you personally know and trust who needs assistance. Review all fundraising platforms’ policies and procedures for verifying site personal fundraisers and safeguarding financial contributors. Some reputable crowdfunding sites will investigate a spate of postings asking for help after a humanitarian catastrophe to confirm they’re not from crooks, but other sites may not validate donation requests.
- Don’t donate to anyone or any organization who insists you pay quickly with cash, gift cards, by wiring money (or some other type of digital payment) or cryptocurrency. Scammers want their victims to pay quickly and with payment methods that are fast, unusual and difficult or impossible to trace or recover funds from. If you decide to donate to a charity or cause, then use a potentially safer payment method, and the bullet point immediately below has a suggestion on that…
- Whenever possible, consider using a credit card and not a debit card online to make your donation. A credit card adds a charge to your loan balance to be paid at a future time, but a debit card removes cash from your checking account right away. Using a credit card in these situations might offer greater security, since fraudulent charges won’t immediately affect the funds you may rely on in your checking account for everyday expenses and bill payments.
- For more advice on avoiding charity scams, visit the U.S. government’s consumer protection agency, the Federal Trade Commission, at https://consumer.ftc.gov/charity.
Did you know that Delta Community offers a monitoring service that may enhance security for your accounts, PrivacyGuard?
Consider an identity theft monitoring insurance policy. If cybersecurity is a serious concern, then it may be helpful to look at investing in an identity monitoring plan to help keep your personal and credit information safer. Delta Community Credit Union and its wholly owned subsidiary, Members Insurance Advisors, now offer members identity protection plans from PrivacyGuard.1 All PrivacyGuard plans offer comprehensive tools such as credit monitoring, dark and public web monitoring of your personal information, activity alerts and access to fraud resolution experts.2
Would you like a few more suggestions for navigating money and holidays?
More information on managing finances is available from free, monthly Delta Community Financial Education Center webinars on many different money-related topics. Please visit the Financial Education Center's Events & Seminars page to register for its no-cost, on-demand webinars.
Delta Community’s blog and security posts have more advice on holidays and online safety:
Charitable donations are just one of the ways to help BALANCE™ your money
BALANCE™ is a financial education and counseling organization that offers free services to Delta Community members. Some of its services include credit report reviews, debt management, and information on budgeting, money management and home buying.
Visit the BALANCE™ website to learn about their education and assistance programs. Members can also speak with certified credit and housing counselors to get personalized guidance.
Want to connect with a Financial Coach about your specific situation? Call 1-888-456-2227 to speak with a Financial Coach today.
Note that the services offered through BALANCE™ are separate and distinct from any business conducted with Delta Community and are not guaranteed by, nor are they obligations of, the Credit Union.
1The benefits in PrivacyGuard are provided by Trilegiant Corporation.
2 View important product benefit information and restrictions.
