On Giving Tuesday, use these tips to avoid charity scams

In a charitable mood, but ever wary of scammers on Giving Tuesday?

The annual "Pennies for Charity: Fundraising by Professional Fundraisers" report released  by New York Attorney General Letitia James provides suggestions on what you should do before you give — so you can follow both your head and your heart and avoid being scammed.

Research before you donate. Websites operated by the Internal Revenue Service, Charity Navigator, CharityWatch, Candid, Givewell and Pro Publica, will help you find out if you're dealing with a real charity. 

Don't feel pressured to give over the phone. A call from a telemarketer? Ask specifics. State law requires telemarketers soliciting for charities to make certain disclosures to donors such as their name, if the solicitation is being conducted by a professional fundraising company, who that company is and if the telemarketer is being paid for the call, as well as what programs are being conducted by the charity in question. None of that, though, means a scam caller won't lie.

Double-check charitable solicitations by mail. Make sure the organization is from a real charity — and not some scam with a name designed to sound like a real charity. Make sure if a mailing claims to be a follow-up on a prior pledge that it's from a charity you really made a pledge to and not an unwanted solicitation. You can also see if there's a financial report on the Charities Bureau's website at CharitiesNYS.com. This will have the charity address so you can verify if it's identical to the mailing.

Be leery of solicitations following a disaster. Check websites like disasterphilanthropy.org to confirm which charities are at the aid forefront, the attorney general's office said. Vet the charity's track record to see how they use donations. If you think the charity might be a scam, contact the Charities Bureau Complaints Section at charities.complaints@ag.ny.gov.

Check to see if it's a charity or a PAC. Make sure the solicitation isn't for a Political Action Committee. Charitable donations are tax deductible, donations to a PAC are not. Unsure? Check the Federal Election Commission database of PACs at fec.gov.

Verify before you hit send. Making a donation in the digital world might be easy, but it can also be dangerous to your wallet. Make sure the charity not only is real but that it has a secure website — one beginning with "https" — and be wary that any solicitation link sent online could be a phishing scam designed to trick you out of a credit card number, Social Security number or other confidential info. Give only to charities you know. If you're unsure, vet any information to make certain the source is real.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”