Make Sure Your Campaign Donations Are Not a Scam
You know what time it is: the moment when politicians bombard your mailboxes with requests for money. And heck, sometimes they deserve it! Beto, take my money! Warren, here’s my debit card and bank account information! AOC, here are my savings! But sometimes, it’s worth being a little more choosy about who accepts campaign donations, as we learned this week.
One man was charged Tuesday with donor hope fraud when he accepted more than $ 25,000 through phony political action committees supporting Bernie Sanders, O’Rourke and other Democratic leaders.
How did he do it? Well, he created a website with a flamboyant (albeit often truthful) campaign language and a simple donation opportunity. In fact, fraudulent PACs are a dime a dozen, taking millions from donors with false promises and doing so with aggressive telemarketing and email schemes.
How can you avoid falling victim to such a scam campaign? Here’s what you should know when you just want to donate some money to your presidential candidate or PAC.
Each donor’s website should have donation rules.
When you’re on a legitimate campaign website, you can easily find the donation rules. They are approved by the FEC, and are statements that you endorse when you donate to political officials, candidates, or the GAC. Here’s the default template you’ll find on these sites:
- I am a US citizen or legally recognized permanent resident (i.e. Green card holder).
- This contribution is made from my own funds and funds are not provided to me by another person or entity for the purpose of this contribution.
- I am making this contribution with my personal credit card and not with a corporate or business credit card or a card issued to someone else.
- I’m at least eighteen.
- I am not a federal contractor.
If you don’t see these rules anywhere, run away! If so, that’s a good sign, but don’t take it as complete proof that the website is valid.
You may see minor changes to these rules on legitimate websites, with a few lines added or concise wording (for example, O’Rourke’s presidential campaign website includes language confirming that you are not making a donation using a linked card. In the PAC, which jeopardizes your ability to legally donate).
You should not be forced to pay by cash or check
Occasionally, you will find a wording on the website that strongly recommends that cash or check is preferable to a credit card. Run away again! This is most likely to prevent you from challenging the charge after you uncover the ruse.
Here’s how the Bernie Sander scam site (not run by Bernie Sanders) tried to trick potential donors, as NBC News recorded :
“EVERY TIME WE PROCESS YOUR CREDIT CARD DONATION, BIG BANKS ACCEPT UP TO 40% DONATIONS ONLY FOR PROCESSING YOUR CREDIT CARD DATA … WHY WE GIVE YOU A VARIETY WITH YOUR CREDIT CARD.
They give you a “choice.” Well, that sounds more like a strictly formulated preference! A legitimate campaign website should convince you to pay one way and not the other.
Identify a reliable intermediary source
When you donate to a PAC, a political official, or a candidate, you must always identify the intermediary source that accepts your money. These are usually secure organizations that collect funds online on behalf of the recipient. The two most common are ActBlue (left) and the recently released Patriot Pass (right). If you don’t see any of these as intermediaries, step away from your computer immediately.
You can also contact ActBlue on its website or any other reseller to confirm that they are raising funds on behalf of your chosen PAC or an individual (the Patriot Pass search hasn’t come up often, but it’s still pretty new).
See where their funds were previously distributed.
Unfortunately, some tricky PACs aren’t all that different from legitimate ones. Many raise funds with the intention of supporting political candidates or specific causes, but instead put most of that money in their pockets to support their own efforts (ie, E. Samih themselves). Unfortunately, this industry does not seem to be sufficiently regulated, although keeping some of the money you collect is technically not illegal, especially when used for general purposes such as administrative expenses. These PACs are often still donated to your desired goals, only in smaller amounts than you might imagine!
However, it is best to check the past PAC efforts you support by searching Open Secrets . Open Secrets allows you to see how each PAC issued its funds to candidates.
Think of the PAC as the Republican Majority Campaign . This is a group dedicated to issues such as tax cuts and the election of Republican officials. During the 2018 political cycle, he raised over $ 200,000, but still a measly $ 1,750 went to support the candidates.
This comes with the caveat that some GACs do not directly contribute to candidates or elections. They are often referred to assuper PACs and are responsible for many of the advertising campaigns and brochures you may stumble upon in the mail. You will not necessarily find these tools listed on a website like Open Secrets.
Open Secrets is not bulletproof, but it will still help you crawl through the mud of questionable PACs.