if it smells like a fish ...
Please avoid http://www.tsunamireliefaid.com/ (hints: no phone number & p.o. box address)
They may turn out to be legit, but for now, avoid them like a plague.
Response on the comment:
"You are incorrect in your assumption that we are scam artists! There is an email address listed on the website that is provided for people like you that have any questions so that we can explain our situation."
Being generous and compassionate doesn't mean you are stupid. Please only donate to the organization that you know and trust. God knows how many random phony bank account masquerading as legit NGOs floating around the Internet right now.
Oh yeah, generally avoid even the formal government account. Consult this Corruption Perception Index first.
Please also be aware that even some the bigger charity organization does pooling donation, where your donation will go to general funding for the organization instead of specific disaster. That's fine and dandy, I just want you to be aware of this.
The mighty American Red Cross get boiled by the American Public for their original intent for "Liberty Fund" in response for 9/11 tragedy.
"Facing a mounting wave of public and Congressional criticism, the American Red Cross announced it will spend the entire $543 million "Liberty Fund" on victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The agency apologized for its earlier plans to use some of the money for other purposes." (ConsumerAffairs)
They may turn out to be legit, but for now, avoid them like a plague.
Response on the comment:
"You are incorrect in your assumption that we are scam artists! There is an email address listed on the website that is provided for people like you that have any questions so that we can explain our situation."
Being generous and compassionate doesn't mean you are stupid. Please only donate to the organization that you know and trust. God knows how many random phony bank account masquerading as legit NGOs floating around the Internet right now.
Oh yeah, generally avoid even the formal government account. Consult this Corruption Perception Index first.
Please also be aware that even some the bigger charity organization does pooling donation, where your donation will go to general funding for the organization instead of specific disaster. That's fine and dandy, I just want you to be aware of this.
The mighty American Red Cross get boiled by the American Public for their original intent for "Liberty Fund" in response for 9/11 tragedy.
"Facing a mounting wave of public and Congressional criticism, the American Red Cross announced it will spend the entire $543 million "Liberty Fund" on victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The agency apologized for its earlier plans to use some of the money for other purposes." (ConsumerAffairs)
posted by Dody G. at 11:08 PM
2 Comments:
You are incorrect in your assumption that we are scam artists! There is an email address listed on the website that is provided for people like you that have any questions so that we can explain our situation.
If you would've emailed us you would've found out that the site was developed from an idea that me and my 12-year old son had to help out the victims. We were going to assemble disaster relief kits and then send them overseas either via the Red Cross or through our own means. If people didn't want to assemble these kits themselves then we would've assembled them for them with their monetary contribution.
There was NEVER any complaints about our legitimacy. We found out that we had to be registered as a non-profit charity in order to collect the donations and while our intentions were honest and verifiable, we were naive to think that we could help out on such a large scale without going through the proper channels.
We also found out that there are scam artists that are out there that prey upon the generosity of others and we do NOT want to be lumped into that category as we never intended to defraud anyone, but rather wanted to help out as much as possible. The real victims are the people overseas and we didn't worry so much if people didn't donate to OUR cause, but rather just donated anywhere to help out as much as possible.
Please see to it that this information is updated as we are just a small family in Maryland that tried to do some good from an idea of our son and all we have is our name, honesty and integrity.
We have been contacted by Good Morning America, New York Sun and countless other media outlets whereby we can make a statement to our well-intentioned cause. It is important that our son realizes that while his intentions were good, we in no way should ever be lumped into a scam artist category.
5:05 PM
Thanks for the explanation.
5:17 PM
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