Israel-Hamas War: Avoiding donation or charity scams

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — If you’re thinking about donating money to help the victims of the Israel-Hamas War, you will want to really do your research first.

Whenever there are humanitarian crises like these, or natural disasters, scammers take advantage of people.

Here’s how to avoid that.

The Better Business Bureau recommends researching any charity or organization before donating. You should ask questions like:

• How are they getting money to the Middle East?
• What are they doing with the money?
• Does the organization already have a presence in the region?

The second BBB recommendation is: Don’t trust emails or phone calls that are unsolicited. If scammers tell you they need the donations right away, that’s a red flag and a good time for you to hang up.

Lastly, the Federal Trade Commission recommends looking at the names of the organizations carefully. Some scammers will use names that sound similar to the names of real charities.

The BBB and Charity Watch each have resources you can use to research various charities.