Hurricane Melissa has brought devastation to the Caribbean, particularly Jamaica and Cuba, ravaging settlements and displacing thousands. The third-most intense Atlantic hurricane on record has caused an outpouring of donations for disaster relief efforts. Sadly, as is often the case with disasters, scammers are quick to prey upon this goodwill and generosity.
In this article, we’ll be looking at spotting and protecting against a Hurricane Melissa charity scam.
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The Evergreen Fake Charity Scam
With plenty of natural disasters happening around the world every year, it’s sadly quite easy for scammers to retool their phishing tactics to exploit the latest tragedy. Just build a reliable “charity” site or payment method handy, and with a little tweaking, they’re good to go.
The scammers will send out messages on social media or via email, posing as new (or in some cases existing) charities and post links to where people can donate. Once there, they’ll be directed to a link where they can pay (often in untraceable ways) and give their money to the scammers.
The fake charity scam relies on speed to follow the disaster quickly, emotional manipulation to engage feelings rather than rationality, and legitimacy to appear authentic.
Identifying a Hurricane Melissa Charity Scam
Staying on top of a donations scam means knowing the red flags. And it doesn’t just apply to Hurricane Melissa – scams can be used to steal funds for nearly every disaster relief scenario.
Fraudulent Domains and Hyperlinks
Be aware of the links you click on or the sites they take you to. Hurricane Melissa has caused a flurry of domain names to be registered and identified by the Jamaica Cyber Incident Response Team. Known fake websites include:
- net
- org
- jamaica-hurricane-help.com
- net
- com
- org
- com
- net
There may still be more popping up, so be sure to donate through the only official donation channel for Jamaica: Support Jamaica.
Evaluate a Charity
Government sites are all well and good, but what about the many independent charities seeking to help, especially those outside the country? This is a bit tougher, but a constantly safe bet is to donate to charities that have been evaluated and vetted by independent bodies. Sites like Give.org and Charity Navigator list charities that meet their standards.
Keep in mind, too, that any charity claiming to donate everything to disaster relief is lying. Some of the money (usually a minimal amount) always goes to operational costs for the charity. Sometimes, the fake ones advertise themselves by promoting free experiences to unique events such as meeting a geisha or a Santa Claus visit to Lapland.
Beware the Bitcoin
A favorite collection method of scammers is through non-traceable channels, such as wire transfers. Recently, paying in Bitcoin has become another popular method of scamming victims, as the funds cannot be traced. If your charity link is asking you to pay in some form of cryptocurrency, alarm bells should be going off.
Donate Directly
Some fake charities impersonate legitimate organizations and make their landing pages and messages look as convincing as possible (a practice known as spoofing). If you’ve received an unsolicited message from a major charity, and aren’t sure whether to trust it, go to the organization’s main site directly (don’t follow any links) and donate. Better safe than sorry.
Spot the Mistakes
Following natural disasters like Hurricane Melissa, scammers need to strike while the iron and empathy are hot. This rushed scramble can often result in poorly worded or badly laid-out messages or websites. Keep an eye out for spelling and grammar mistakes, and ensure the website looks legitimate. Go with your gut when in doubt.
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