As Southern California burns, watch out for charity scams!

A sad commentary on how some people react to a disaster are the amount of scams that surface as a result of them.

The Postal Inspectors are warning us that we are likely to see a lot of these scams appear as a result of the Southern California fires.

If you are one of the good people out there, who intends to lend some financial support, it is a wise thing to make sure your hard-earned money is going where it is supposed to.

From the USPIS release:

Our charitable nature leaves us vulnerable to charity fraud schemes. Most charities are legitimate organizations that support good causes. Some, however, are run by swindlers. With more than 700,000 federally recognized charities soliciting for charitable contributions, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service reminds everyone it pays to be cautious when making a donation.

Disasters bring out the best in people who truly desire to help those impacted by these situations. Unfortunately, disasters also bring out the worst; scammers take advantage of the circumstances by stealing the charitable donations intended to help victims of the disaster. Postal Inspectors saw numerous charity scams emerge in the days following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 Southeast Asia earthquake and tsunami, and the September 11th terrorist attacks.

The recent California firestorm offers a new opportunity for fraudsters to perpetrate charity scams. If you're considering a contribution to help with relief efforts, it's important to know where your donation dollars will go. California Charities can be researched on the Attorney Generalwebsite, http://ag.ca.gov/charities or at the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance, http://www.give.org/.

The Postal Inspectors are also offering some general tips on how to avoid these scams:

-- Give donations to known charities, or research new or unfamiliar charities first.

-- Refuse high-pressure appeals. Legitimate fundraisers won't push you to give on the spot. -- Be suspicious of solicitors who say they can only accept a cash donation.

-- Always make checks out to the name of the charity, never to an individual.

-- Be wary of "sound-alike" charities, many scammers use names that sound similar to names of legitimate charities.

-- Be skeptical if someone thanks you for a pledge you don't remember making. This is a tactic scammers use to lull victims into sending "additional" funds.

-- Ask for ID. For-profit fundraisers must disclose the name of the charity requesting the donation --- it's the law. Many states require paid fundraisers to identify themselves as such and to name the charity for which they're soliciting. If the solicitor refuses to tell you, hang up and report it to law enforcement officials. Also ask how much of your donation goes to those in need and how much goes to the fund raiser.

Last, but not least -- if you spot one of these scammers, you can help terminate their activities by reporting them to the Postal Inspectors.

You can find your local Postal Inspector by calling 877-876-2455. If you are of a more technical nature and prefer to report illegal activity online, you may do so, by clicking here.

USPIS release, here.

Although, Arnold isn't taking calls from bloggers this morning, I'm sure he supports terminating this type of activity, also.

The people in Southern California will need a lot of money to help them recover. Wasting monetary resources on scams will not help the situation.

PS: I'm dedicating this post to Paul Young, a noted Southern California blogger and friend, who writes Prying1.

I've enjoyed reading his investigative insights on issues, which are obtained, by digging a little deeper than the mainstream media.

Bid Reaper, "TELLING IT LIKE IT IS" on eBay

Over the past year, I've written more than one post about problems on eBay. Recently, my friend and partner in "Digging A Little Deeper," Paul Young was able to get the "Bid Reaper" to give me honorable mention on his site.

I'll have to admit, I had never been exposed to the "Bid Reaper" before. I found the site to be extremely informative, and a "informative" read for anyone trying to navigate the "sometimes" murky waters of Internet auctions.

Bid Reaper's motto is - Telling "IT" like it is - and it details what is going wrong on eBay - right now.

I plan to continue my visits to "Bid Reaper" and highly recommend that anyone interested in protecting themselves on eBay - do so - also!

And the pictures (see above) are very "interesting," to say the least. The very vision of the "Bid Reaper" should instill fear in auction fraudsters - as well as - eBay's marketing department.

To visit the "Bid Reaper," click here.

David Napstead, The Story of a Small-Time Con Man

Normally, I write about big name fraudsters, but there are a lot of small-time crooks out there committing fraud on a daily basis. When you add up the amount of misery caused by these fraudsters, they cause a lot of suffering to hard working people. My friend, Paul Young of Prying1 wrote me about one of them, David E. Napstead.

Napstead in the past has offered nonexistent cellular services to his unsuspecting victims. Like most of the flim-flam men out there, he has phony business cards and a cell phone to conduct business.

Please note, that setting up a phony website is also becoming very common.

A recent comment on Paul's blog indicated that Napstead had been arrested after setting up a phony "debt consolidation" business and bilking those who already were suffering financial difficulties.

Pardon my "French," but what a "dirt bag!" Napstead is no "Robin Hood."

For the full story from Prying1, link here.

If you have been the victim of Mr. Napstead and the crime is yet to be reported, the Las Vegas Police Department might be interested.

Fraud come-ons from people lacking morals surround us, daily. They are found posted on telephone poles, newspaper classifieds - and of course - on the Internet. Because of the "sheer volume" of scams that exist out there (sadly enough) law enforcement lacks the resources to bring a lot of these small-time criminals to justice.

When you are dealing with an "unknown operator" of a business, it pays to do your homework before giving them one "solitary penny."

Here are some resources to do your homework:

Consumer World: Consumer Agencies

Better Business Bureau: BBB.

Quite frequently, a common mistake made (when doing your homework) is that if no information comes up (negative or positive); someone assumes the entity they are "checking out" is legitimate.

If you can find no information - whatsoever - do as Paul suggests in the theme of Prying1: "Dig a a little deeper" before giving up any of your hard earned money.

Here is a previous post - I wrote - specifically on that thought:

BBB Worker Takes Job Processing Fraudulent eBay Transactions

On the WWW, A Prudent Soul Holds On To Their Wallet!

I read this post from Paul Young of Prying1 (Digging a little Deeper) and it says it all - "See a Pop Up? Hold On To Your Wallet."

Paul writes:

"Had a popup appear suddenly as I was surfing Blog Explosion. Earlier I was surfing for funny videos to download and that might have been when I got the cookie. Anyway. Here I am zigzagging through Cyber Space when I'm accosted by a window that claims I can make money simply by filling in my name and email address. Such a deal. They didn't even demand I use my real name. Is this a great country or what?

"Well I right-clicked on the window and clicked on properties to find out who they were before I'd take a chance on giving them a phony name and junk email address. This is how I discovered 'ReferralWare'. I have no problem with people throwing money at me as these folks proposed. Especially for free. BUTTTT!!! - I have a major defect in my emotional well being. I'm a skeptic... - I thought I would perform one more test. What I call the Company Name/Scam Google Test."

For the full "read" (highly recommended) and the results of Paul's experiment, link here.

Normally, I try to add some additional resources -- but since I like this one so much -- it's best left in it's original state.

Prying1 takes a "common sense" approach to dealing with life's woes and it is a site that I frequent on a regular basis.

So far as this (probably semi-legal scam), always remember "If it seems to good to be true, it probably isn't."

Ever wonder how well you are protected from credit card fraud?

I was reading Cary Cartter's (I'm Thinking of the "O" Word...) and came upon a link he had on his blog on why we should all buy "shredders."

By the way "O" stands for obvious.

After clicking on the link, I found to my amusement a pictorial of Rob from Cockeyed.com ripping up one of those credit card offers in the mail we all receive, tearing it up, taping it back together and then sending it in to Chase.

AND Rob didn't stop here, he changed the address on the application and used his cell phone as his contact number. Note that these are both WARNING signals of fraud.

After researching the Chase site, Rob figured he had wasted his time. They clearly mention tearing up the application as a preventative measure.

Going even further, he researched the Federal Trade Commission's site, which also recommended tearing up the documents.

BUT he didn't waste his time, after a short wait his Dad called to let him know he had mail from Chase. Inside it was a shiny new credit card, which of course, he activated with his cell phone.

Link with lot's of pictures, here. One of the pictures shows a close up of the credit card indicating this is no hoax.

Although hilarious, this little experiment shows that despite the press from financial service companies about their top notch security procedures, fraud is too EASY to commit. It seems that they are more interested in marketing their products than protecting your personal information.

They expect fraud and figure it into their profitability margin, or add into the cost of using their service. That way they can sell even more services and you end up paying for it.

Of course, they are now "marketing" identity theft products and will try to sell that to you, also.

Here is an interesting commentary from the Motley Fool on why most identity theft products are another form of "dialing for your dollars" and why many of them offer little value.