City of Northville Police Warn of Possible Charity Fraud

- From a city of Northville police email alert

The Northville Police Department received a report of a man soliciting funds for a well known charity. The man was located in the lobby of a local business. A customer reported seeing the man soliciting for another charity in the past, so he reported the man to store management. Store management spoke with the man and discovered that he had no legitimate paper work or approval to be in their lobby. They had the man leave the property then contacted the charity and found that he had never made a donation to them. It is unknown if the man ever collected any money while in the lobby.

Remember to BEWARE when you are asked to donate to a charity and the following methods are used:

• Bills or invoices sent to you even though you never pledged money to the organization;
• Evasive, vague, or unresponsive answers to specific questions about the charity and how money is used;
• Words making up a charity's name that closely resemble a more well-known charity;
• Allowing no time to reconsider your pledge; they insist on collecting your donation immediately.
• Refusal to answer questions about where your money will go, refusal to send information about the charity, or refusal to provide a receipt;
• Emotional appeals and high-pressure tactics to get you to make a quick decision or feel guilty about not contributing.

For more information on donating to charities visit the two links below or go to http://mi.gov/agcharity.

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/ag/Wise_Charitable_Giving_FINAL_9-20-11_366831_7.pdf
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/ag/MI_NonProfit_Assn_GiveWisely_369594_7.pdf