Beward of Spoofs and Scams when Giving Online for Tsunami Relief

"Online giving is extremely safe, but there are a few ways in which scam artists can mess up an occasional transaction," says Agency head

By Pauline J. Chang, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, January 20, 2005

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), one of the largest Christian relief groups to assist the survivors of the deadly South Asia tsunami, warned the faithful take “precautions when giving online.”

To date, UMCOR gathered over $4 million in offerings from the United Methodist Church (UMC)’s 8 million members, over a fourth of which came from online credit card gifts.

"We have had very few problems in making a major shift to electronic giving," says Glenda Survance, director of information services at the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, UMCOR’s parent organization, to the United Methodist News Service.

"Online giving is extremely safe, but there are a few ways in which scam artists can mess up an occasional transaction," she continued. "So we have developed a short list of precautions that donors to UMCOR should follow."

According to Suvance, “charitable links” sent via e-mail are not trustworthy.

"E-mail links are risky," Survance says, "because an unsavory character can copy the look of a Web site but change just one little part of the address. The unsuspecting donor receives what appears to be a good e-mail with the phony link and thinks it is OK. Donors should always go to an authentic Internet site."

Referring to cases where scam artists “spoof” – steal the appearance of a trustedwebsite and then give it a fake address – web pages, Survance warned donors to check clearly of the validity of the website before giving.

"Of the thousands of online transactions in the tsunami relief effort, we are aware of only one incident in which UMCOR may have been spoofed," Survance reported. "This involved an e-mail received by a donor.

"That is why we are saying very loudly: UMCOR is not using e-mail solicitations in the tsunami crisis. We are not alarmists, but we want every donor to UMCOR, every United Methodist in their online transactions, to be 100 percent safe all the time.

"We have four Internet addresses that donors can select, and all of these link to the Kintera credit-card service that UMCOR is using for this emergency."

The four addresses are: www.methodistrelief.org, www.umc.org, www.umcor.org and www.gbgm-umc.org. The UMCOR "donate" button that links to Kintera is found at each site, according to UMNS.

"Things have gone remarkably well in this our first major experience with online giving," Survance says. "We know it is the wave of the future, and we are ready at UMCOR and the General Board of Global Ministries."

Nearly all Christian relief groups working in South Asia have an “online giving” option, mostly because such transitions are able to be processed faster than the ones sent by mail.

For more information on how to give, visit: www.christianpost.com/tsunami