The public is being urged to use caution when asked to donate to charity causes related to
Hurricane Helene as there has been a surge of scams emerge. The United States
Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah encourages Utahans to adhere to certain
guidelines when considering making donations, including the following: Make
contributions directly to known organizations rather than relying on others to make the
donation on your behalf. Do not be pressured into making contributions as reputable
charities do not use such tactics. Do not respond to any unsolicited communications
through email or text and never click links contained within those messages because they
may be targeting your personal information, to include bank and credit card account
information, and other identifiers such as dates of birth and social security numbers.
Beware of organizations with copy-cat names similar to but not exactly the same as those
of reputable charities. Avoid cash donations if possible. Pay by credit card or write a
check directly to the charity. Do not make checks payable to individuals. Know that
legitimate charities do not normally solicit donations via money transfer services, and
their website will normally end in .org rather than .com. Finally, be cautious of emails
that claim to show pictures of the disaster areas in attached files because the files may
contain viruses. Only open attachments from known senders. Complaints of fraud may be
reported online at www.justice.gov/DisasterComplaintForm.
