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When the Haiti earthquake occurred several weeks ago, there were pleas for cash donations. In an effort to help, companies offered to collect donations from customers and pass them on the relief organizations   Emerging from this situation is the text donation.

Texting donations have been done in the past but not one the scale seen for Haiti. The power of social networking was made clear as millions of dollars were charged against consumer accounts and each one generated by a text message. There were no checks to write or websites that had to be accessed. All a person had to do was text designated words to a numbered code using a cell phone.

Once the company received the text, a pre-determined charge would be added to a customer’s account such as a cell phone account. The money will eventually make its way to the charity but that could take months. In many cases the transaction requires more than one text to be sent before final authorization. For people charged on a per-text basis, the net result was that significant charges were added to cell phone accounts in addition to the donation.

Making the matter worse is the fact some charities will deliver regular text messages after the original donation is made. Those paying for each text message received are again racking up charges for marketing text messages they did not want and did not believe they had authorized. 

Of course, the process of texting donations is ripe for scammers too. The Better Business Bureau has issued a warning to consumers that due diligence should be used before texting a donation.  Though organizations like the Red Cross are legitimate, scammers have been taking advantage of the opportunity to steal money.

Scam artists request donations giving the impression that donated money will go to a legitimate organization. They provide a number to text to which is not a true charity. The consumer gives approval for the charge and the money is transferred to the scam artist’s account instead of to the charity.

In these times of economic uncertainty and unemployment it is amazing how much money was donated by families struggling to pay their own bills. It is distressing to become a victim when trying to help others. The Better Business Bureau and state attorney generals suggest that consumers take precautions to protect themselves against fraud.

Always confirm the organization and the telephone number is legitimate before texting a donation (make a phone call or visit a website)
Do not provide your cell phone number through a website until after setting your phone up to block internet text messages (to prevent multiple and costly text message charges to an account)
Check out the charity’s website for details as to how the donation program works before texting a donation
Take the time to insure the charity you are texting is legitimate and will use your money as promised

There are many good charities that use donated funds wisely and as intended. Unfortunately, there are plenty of fake charity scam operations in progress too.

Text Donations Is New Use Of Social Networking is a post from: Thistle Debt Consolidation