Secretary of State Robert J. Rodriguez: \u201cIt is important to remember that scammers like to prey on the good intentions of people, and we encourage New Yorkers to do their research before making donations so that these good deeds reach the right place.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The New York State Department of State\u2019s Division of Consumer Protection aims to raise awareness about charity scams; the charitable spirit of New Yorkers is at an all-time high during the holiday season, so these tips are meant to serve as a guide when choosing causes to support, so donations get to the right place and not in the hands of scammers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe season of giving is in full swing, and people are purchasing gifts for loved ones and making generous donations to causes they care about,\u201d said Secretary of State Robert J. Rodriguez. \u201cBut before making these donations, it is important to remember that scammers like to prey on the good intentions of people, and we encourage New Yorkers to do their research before making donations so that these good deeds reach the right place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Charity scams can happen at any time, but they are more prevalent during the holiday season when donors are moved by generosity and the end-of-year deadline for securing tax deductions. Charity scams also increase after a natural disaster or emergencies, collecting millions of dollars from unsuspecting donors. On many occasions, these fraudsters pretend to be affiliated with well-known organizations or even the government to scam people out of their hard-earned money. Tips to help avoid charity scams:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The state Division of Consumer Protection provides resources and education materials to consumers on product safety, as well as voluntary mediation services between consumers and businesses. The Consumer Assistance Helpline 800.697.1220 is available Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding state holidays, and consumer complaints may be filed at any time at dos.ny.gov\/consumer-protection<\/a>. Follow the Department of State on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a> and Instagram<\/a> and check in every Tuesday for more practical tips that educate and empower New York consumers on a variety of topics. Sign up to receive consumer alerts directly to your email or phone here<\/a>. For more consumer protection tips, follow the Division of Consumer Protection on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Consumer Protection Division issues holiday charity scam prevention tips Secretary of State Robert J. Rodriguez: \u201cIt is important to remember that scammers like to prey on the good intentions of people, and we encourage New Yorkers to do their research before making donations so that these good deeds reach the right place.\u201d The New York […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[32,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","category-top-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/scam.png?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43meu-vJD","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=121993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/69912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=121993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=121993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=121993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
According to the Federal Trade Commission,<\/a> in 2022, there were 10,217 reports of charitable solicitation fraud resulting in $21 million in losses. This is a drastic increase from 2019\u2019s 3,872 reports of charitable solicitation fraud resulting in $6 million in losses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n