ASAN – The Texas Prosecutor’s Office in Texas hardly received any reports of wearing prices related to the Flood of Independence. However, with increasing recovery efforts across the center of Texas and The Hill Country, state officials and consumer advocates continue to warn the public from the beneficiaries of disasters, deceptions and fraudulent charities.
The Oag Office received only one report on Goung Price – a fuel station near Kerrville raising its prices by 50 cents – in the days after the extensive chaos of the floods that left 120 dead and another 166 is still missing from Friday.
The deaths and missing persons Kerr, Travis, Williamson, Burnet, Kendall and Tom Green were reported. These provinces, and others, are placed under federal and state disasters ads, which lead to a specific protection from consumers, making the accumulation of prices illegal.
With the spread of news of destruction, as well as the flow of support and donations.
For example, Community Foundation in Texas Hill County A legal and transparent non -profit company announced $ 30 million in the Kiir County Fund for Flood Relief in just six days. Through grants, $ 5 million is sent to organizations to be disbursed to “individuals, families, local companies and the first respondents and respond to crises”, ” According to the organization.
Not all efforts to collect donations are legitimate. Regardless of the prices, officials say that fraud in donations can be lurking. Texas Public Prosecutor Ken Pakston said Now is the time to be alert to “bad actors who are trying to benefit from this tragedy.”
The fraudsters click on artificial intelligence
Jason Miza, great communications director at the Best Business Office, told KXan that fraudsters use artificial intelligence to work faster.
“Amnesty International allows criminals online to accelerate the process of creating robots programs that speak,” Miza said. “Once they ascended or created personal files and put them on these platforms, they are quickly downloaded, and they move to another. They migrate very quickly.”
The fraudsters reproduce the donation collection pages and replace the bank account links. They said they suffocate the sections of comments on the definition stories to convert potential donors and the wrong money into fraudulent bank accounts.
It is important for people to stop before donating, triple payment sites and inspection to ensure that they are directed to the right place. If something seems wrong, consumers can contact the collection of donations or send a message to them and ask questions. Miza said that cyber criminals who are trying to move quickly will not spend time answering detailed questions or providing more information than it has already been published.
BBB warns of emotional calls, collect donations using names similar to well -known charities, collect donations that reveal little information, and immediately require donations that press you immediately.
Fraud operations can be reported BBB’s Scam Tracker. Consumers can also inform them to the Public Prosecutor’s Office here.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office has advice and information about Disaster fraud here Under:
- warningCars that have harmed floods.
- Recommendations onContractors from door to door.
Additional tips and resources:
- Do not deliver money or provide personal banking information such as account, credit card or social security numbers.
- Charitable societies research before donation. Two tools to verify accreditation dataCharitywatchandGuidestarWhich maintains the tax authority data on non -profit organizations.
- Do not trust the names or phone numbers, which can be fake.
- Watch out for script requests for donations, which are also called “Smishing”.
- Enter your name in Texas, do not contact the record (by visitinghttps://www.texasnocall.comOr by calling the free number on the number 1-888-309-0600) and nationalism do not contact the registration, through the visitwww.donotcall.govOr by free call to 1-888-382-1222 (TTY 1-866-290-4236).