Nassau Issues Charitable Donations Warning

The Nassau County Office of Consumer Affairs has issued an alert that it said should keep residents and businesses from being scammed when making a charitable donation.

Residents are encouraged to be on the lookout for charities that:

• Use a name that is very similar to a well-known charity.
• Thank you for a donation you never made.
• Use high-pressure sales tactics or emotional pleas to get you to donate immediately.

Residents are also urged to be especially careful with any charity that uses the words police, firefighter or veterans in their name.  

In a statement, the county said "quite often they have no connection to any legitimate organizations. Residents should also be wary of solicitations to help victims of a recent disaster, including Hurricane Sandy, the Philippine typhoon and Midwest tornadoes."

The consumer affairs office offered the following precautions:

• Never provide your credit card or bank account information until you check out the charity.
• Ask for the charity's name, address and phone number.  Search online and look for a history of scams and complaints.
• Check to see if the charity is registered in New York State by calling (212) 416-8401 or log on to  http://www.charitiesnys.com/RegistrySearch/search_charities.jsp