DON’T BE A CHARITY SCAM VICTIM
When a natural disaster strikes, thieves often play on the goodwill of people by posing as representative of real charities to steal money or get information to commit identity theft.
Bogus charities use several different tactics to get money and information from unsuspecting individual. They may claim to be with, and use the names similar to legitimate charities. They often use email to steer people to bogus websites that look like real charity websites. Scam artists will contact people by phone or email to get their victims to donate money or give them financial information. To avoid being scammed, don’t give your social security number, credit card information, bank account number, or passwords to anyone.
“Only donations to qualified organizations are tax-deductible. For legitimate charitable contributions, contribute by check or credit card to provide documentation for tax purposes-never donate cash. Finally, if you suspect fraud, report it to the appropriate authorities.
DIRTY DOZEN TAX SCAMS FOR 2014
The “Dirty Dozen,” compiled by the IRS each year, lists common scams that taxpayers encounter. Unsurprisingly, tax fraud using identity theft tops the list this year. Next on the list is telephone scams, with callers pretending to be from the IRS in an effort to steal money or identities from their victims. You can find the complete 2014 Dirty Dozen listing by going to www.irs.gov and entering “dirty dozen” in the search box.