BBB Warns About Ebola Scams and Schemes

Arlington, VA  – Better Business Bureau is warning consumers about a variety of Ebola-related scams and problematic fundraisers that have emerged recently. BBB Wise Giving Alliance is working with BBB Serving Dallas and Northeast Texas, where the first victim died and two nurses became infected; BBB Serving Greater Cleveland, where one of the nurses traveled before getting sick; and several other local BBBs to investigate some of the Ebola-related efforts.

A fundraising page on GoFundMe was created on Wednesday to raise donations for Amber Joy Vinson, the nurse who traveled from Dallas to Cleveland and is currently being treated in Atlanta for Ebola. The site may have been the work of a well-intentioned individual, but members of Vinson’s family tell BBB they did not authorize the effort. Although that page has since been shut down, there are more than 100 GoFundMe pages raising money for various Ebola campaigns.

Several BBBs have also reported on phone solicitation from an organization supposedly raising money to help with Ebola. When pressed, the caller says he is from a famous charity’s chapter in the Bronx, New York. BBB Metro New York confirmed that no such branch exists and that the solicitation is likely a scam.

BBB warns donors to carefully research any charitable efforts - especially those that surface following an event that gains media attention.  

Tips* on funding requests appearing on crowdfunding sites:

• See if the crowdfunding request is from a charity. If so, check out the organization at give.org, the charity reporting arm of the BBB.

• Give to individuals you know. It is safest to give to those individuals you personally know who are contacting you to support their specific crowdfunding project.

• Crowdfunding projects that share updates provide greater transparency. Updates from a project's organizers help to ensure they're being honest about the uses of raised money.

• Don't assume your donation or gift is tax deductible. If you are funding a project run by an individual instead of a charity, the funding you provide may not be deductible as a charitable gift for federal income tax purposes.

• Read the fine print. There could be credit card fees and administrative costs associated with donating on a crowdfunding site.

• Specialized crowdfunding sites (for example, a site that focuses on relief projects in other countries) may be more adept. A site that allows any type of crowdfunding may result in more challenging oversight hurdles.

Tips* on telephone fundraising appeals:

• Resist pressure to make an on-the-spot donation decision.

• Never give your credit card number or other personal financial information to unknown callers.

• If interested ask the charity to identify its full name and website address so you can see if there is a BBB report on give.org

For additional assistance on charitable giving issues, visit the BBB Wise Giving Alliance website at give.org.

*Tips updated 10/17/14 to include additional information.

About BBB Wise Giving Alliance
BBB Wise Giving Alliance produces reports on more than 1,300 nationally soliciting charitable organizations, and local Better Business Bureaus report on another 10,000 local and regional charities. BBB Wise Giving Alliance is a standards-based charity evaluator that seeks to verify the trustworthiness of charities by completing rigorous evaluations based on 20 holistic standards that address charity governance, effectiveness reporting, finances, fund raising, appeal accuracy, and other issues. There is no charge to charities for the evaluation, and the resulting reports are accessible to the public at give.org.

About BBB
For more than 100 years, Better Business Bureau has been helping people find businesses, brands and charities they can trust. In 2013, people turned to BBB more than 132 million times for BBB Business Reviews on more than 4.5 million businesses and Charity Reports on 11,000 charities, all available for free at bbb.org. The Council of Better Business Bureaus is the umbrella organization for 112 local, independent BBBs across North America, as well as home to its national programs on dispute resolution, advertising review, and industry self-regulation.