Haiti Earthquake – Beware of scams
1/14/2010:
Scams galore!
I’m sure you all know about the massive earthquake devastation over in Haiti – the poorest country in the western hemisphere. If their luck couldn’t get any worse – now they have to deal with widespread destruction and thousands of feared fatalities.
Of course, no disaster is complete without the scammers looking to take advantage of generous donors. Almost immediately after the quake, all sorts of messages were popping up online (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) – with many different text message short codes to “donate” $10 or $5 for the cause. Many of which were NOT trustworthy. Beware!
If you’re the type that is OK with donating digitally – the two that are (currently) legitimate are:
- Texting HAITI to 90999: This service was set up by the U.S. State Department. Texting “HAITI” to the number will donate $10 to the American Red Cross, and will appear as a charge on your wireless bill.
- Texting YELE to 501501: This will donate $5 to Yele Haiti, a non-profit organization founded by singer and Haiti native Wyclef Jean. A donation to Yele will also appear as a charge on your cell bill. You can also donate larger amounts at Yele’s website.
Besides sending SMS messages – there are other ways you can help – and you can see a comprehensive list of them here.
Hoboken NJ
January 14th, 2010 |
Horrible quake, and even more horrific are those that try and capitalize via fraud.
Good idea to clarify for those that believe all the messages they come across.
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January 14th, 2010 |
In addition to text scams the community should be aware of additional scams via emails and internet postings.
Many of you that have used craigslist in the past will come across bogus postings asking for relief via western union or other wire sources, these are scams and it is best to flag these when and if you see them
The famed Nigerian check scam will also likely come in to play here and will involve the quake, you will post an item for sale and someone will offer to send you a check for the item. As always you want 100 for your item and they send a 4k check and blame a snafu and ask you to deposit the check and wait for it to clear and send them the money, they’ll perhaps use they are in haiti and need the money to do whatever they need to do, usually use it to say someone in hospital needs it for surgery. They will ask you to wire the funds to them. Your bank will tell you it is a fake check weeks later and you will owe the bank. Beware
I am taking up a collection at my store this week and weekend. You can come in and drop off money and it will be taken to the red cross on Sunday. If you are unable to get to the shop, please email me at sales@midtownauthentic.com and you can paypal it to us.
Be careful out there
Midtown Authentic
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January 14th, 2010 |
Wait, so General Mummar at that Nigerian bank really ISN’T sending the money to Haiti? That BASTARD!
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January 14th, 2010 |
For those of you that will drop off donations please make a check payable to The American Red Cross of Northern NJ and in the memo please write “For Haiti”, on sunday we will take all funds to the Red Cross. There is a mail slot in my door at 508 5th St, if not there please leave in slot, it is the far left door if looking at the building.
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January 14th, 2010 |
Thanks for posting this. I was wondering about what we could do as a community for Haiti. It’s a little scary when such a disaster happens closer to home than that the previous one (2004 tsunami) and so we’re better off helping one another at times like these…
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January 14th, 2010 |
Midtown, what you’re doing is awesome. I hope that other local businesses and congregations get in on this mission, too!
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January 14th, 2010 |
Yes actually there are others getting involved, it is to be called Hoboken for Haiti, I am compiling a list of those that are involved and will submit it later. There are good people in Hoboken and together we can make a difference. I would like to get some Hoboken themed t shirts from someone to send over so we can cloth those in need and I hope other towns in Hudson County and across NJ will do the same thing. God Bless America
In response to mooshu who said:
Midtown, what you’re doing is awesome. I hope that other local businesses and congregations get in on this mission, too!
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January 14th, 2010 |
Another organization to donate to is Roots Without End Society. The hurrican season was not as bad as they had expected so they had reserve surplies that they have already given out.
http://vodouaid.org/
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January 14th, 2010 |
More info about how aid in Haite
http://vodouaid.org/vodouaid_relief.html
In response to Journey who said:
Another organization to donate to is Roots Without End Society. The hurrican season was not as bad as they had expected so they had reserve surplies that they have already given out.
http://vodouaid.org/
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January 14th, 2010 |
I know you mean well with shipping clothes over there, but please give this article a read before deciding to do so:
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/haiti/100113/haiti-earthquake-aid
The bit about wasted donations to the tsunami relief was news to me (that probably wasn’t a big enough story to report weeks/months after the disaster), but the gist is that money in the hands the aid workers already out there can do more good. Lines up with a similar article I read a few weeks back around Thanksgiving mentioning the inefficiency of canned food drives that have to ship/sort through tons of product, when cash could be used to buy in bulk and limit overstocking. This doesn’t necessarily apply to local initiatives like the food bank in Hoboken, but it’s certainly relevant to overseas disaster relief.
Giving to the Red Cross seems to be a knee-jerk reaction for a lot of us, but I’d question if it’s the best use of funds considering their financial situation.
While reading Reddit.com, I came across suggestion for Partners in Health, which has been operating clinics in Haiti, among other nations, since the 1980’s and is therefore already deployed to respond to the earthquake. Their status report on Charity Navigator (great resource for examining non-profits) is much healthier than some of the larger groups and they have a low overhead of admin/fundraising costs (always a good thing). Some links:
* http://www.pih.org/home.html
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Farmer
* charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=4884
In response to midtownauthentic who said:
Yes actually there are others getting involved, it is to be called Hoboken for Haiti, I am compiling a list of those that are involved and will submit it later. There are good people in Hoboken and together we can make a difference. I would like to get some Hoboken themed t shirts from someone to send over so we can cloth those in need and I hope other towns in Hudson County and across NJ will do the same thing. God Bless America
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January 14th, 2010 |
I would suggest Doctors without Borders.
They are positioned to make an immediate difference in saving lives in Haiti.
http://doctorswithoutborders.org/
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January 14th, 2010 |
This is the one I’ve been reading about as well as the Red Cross. Thanks! I think Doctors without Borders is great.
In response to YipYap who said:
I would suggest Doctors without Borders.
They are positioned to make an immediate difference in saving lives in Haiti.
http://doctorswithoutborders.org/
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January 14th, 2010 |
Ganache Cafe is also chipping in (15th and Washington):
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January 14th, 2010 |
Ganache, hooray for you!
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January 15th, 2010 |
I second YipYap’s suggestion. Doctors Without Borders was operating 3 hospitals in Haiti at the time of the earthquake and all 3 have been condemmed (2 collapsed). They are a bigger organization than Partners in Health, which jmikola suggested, (they still get 4 stars from his source) but their strength is figuring out logistics on how to deliver emergency health care to places in crisis. They create infrastructure (sometimes in unorthodox ways) where there is none. I have been a fan since a close friend worked for them for several years and had amazing tales to tell about places in Africa and the former Soviet Republics.
In response to YipYap who said:
I would suggest Doctors without Borders.
They are positioned to make an immediate difference in saving lives in Haiti.
http://doctorswithoutborders.org/
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January 15th, 2010 |
Habitat for Humanity has been in Haiti for 26 years, and also is a great organization helping the victims in Haiti. Since the catastrophic Indian Ocean Tsunami, Habitat has built, repaired and renovated more than 22,500 permanent houses and has learned a great deal about rebuilding after disasters. Donations can be made at https://www.habitat.org/cd/giving/donate.aspx?link=227
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January 16th, 2010 |
Looks like Yele Haiti (one of the text message campaigns in the main article) has some shadiness going on. It was featured on Smoking Gun earlier today:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2010/0114102wyclef1.html
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January 16th, 2010 |
I have pledged 10% of my sales until sunday to go towards Haitian relief, did good today for Haiti!! I got an email this morning from furnituremustg0@aol.com that I was cc’d on on purpose that basically my giving efforts was a scam? Who would say such a horrible thing?
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January 16th, 2010 |
jsut saw on the news that The Better Business Bureau has said not to donate to Yele.
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