Scam Alerts!

Tips for scam-free charitable giving

Last year, individual Americans donated an estimated $292 billion to charity. Before you pull out your wallet this holiday season, the South Carolina Department of Revenue (SCDOR) and the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs (SCDCA) offer tips to make your giving safe and scam free.

• Be wary of solicitations that ask you to pay in pre-paid debit cards, gift cards, wire, or bank transfer. Once in the hands of a scam artist, the money is gone and difficult to trace.

• Don’t give out personal information to someone soliciting a donation. Personal information can be as valuable as cash to a criminal, who may try to convince you to part with credit card or bank account data, phone numbers, addresses, and more.

• Check out charities before donating. Scammers create fake charities before the holidays to trick people out of donations. Look out for charities with names that sound like famous charities but are not. Go to the SC Secretary of State’s website to see if the charity is registered. You can also call 1-888-242-7484.

• Research charities online using words like “scam” and “complaint.” You can also check a charity’s ratings with BBB Wise Giving Alliance, Charity Navigator, Charity Watch, and Guidestar.

• Use the IRS’s Tax Exempt Organization Search to see if your donation is tax-deductible.

• Don’t assume solicitations on social media or crowdfunding sites are legitimate. Some scammers hijack links to legitimate sites while others may misappropriate donated funds.

• To report a concern about a charity or to file a scam complaint, call the SC Secretary of State’s Division of Public Charities at 1-888-242-7484 or file a confidential complaint online with the SC Secretary of State using their Charitable Solicitation Complaint Form. You can also call SCDCA’s Identity Theft Unit at 1-844-835-5322, or visit consumer.sc.gov and click the Identity Theft Unit tab.

For more information, visit consumer.sc.gov, sos.sc.gov or dor.sc.gov/securitycenter.

Social Security Administration Imposter Scam Calls

Andrew Saul, commissioner of Social Security, and Gail S. Ennis, the Inspector General for the Social Security Administration, announced the launch of a dedicated online form at https://oig.ssa.gov to receive reports from the public of Social Security-related scams.

These scams — in which fraudulent callers mislead victims into making cash or gift card payments to avoid arrest for purported Social Security number problems — skyrocketed over the past year to become the Number one type of fraud reported to the Federal Trade Commission and the Social Security Administration.

Social Security employees do occasionally contact people — generally those who have ongoing business with the agency — by telephone for business purposes. However, Social Security employees will never threaten a person, or promise a Social Security benefit approval, or increase, in exchange for information or money. In those cases, the call is fraudulent and people should just hang up.

Generally, the agency mainly calls people who have recently applied for a Social Security benefit, someone who is already receiving payments and requires an update to their record, or a person who has requested a phone call from the agency. If a person is not in one of these situations, they normally would not receive a call from the agency.

Social Security will not tell you that your Social Security number has been suspended; contact you to demand an immediate payment; ask you for credit or debit card numbers over the phone; require a specific means of debt repayment — like a prepaid debit card, a retail gift card, or cash; demand that you pay a Social Security debt without the ability to appeal the amount you owe; promise a Social Security benefit approval, or increase, in exchange for information or money.

If there is a problem with a person’s Social Security number or record, in most cases Social Security will mail a letter. If a person needs to submit payments to Social Security, the agency will send a letter with instructions and payment options. Unless you are certain of who is receiving your personal information, you should never provide information or payment over the phone or Internet, in regards to Social Security.

Daniel Island Publishing

225 Seven Farms Drive
Unit 108
Daniel Island, SC 29492 

Office Number: 843-856-1999
Fax Number: 843-856-8555

 

Breaking News Alerts

To sign up for breaking news email alerts, Click on the email address below and put "email alerts" in the subject line: sdetar@thedanielislandnews.com

Comment Here