Christmas is the time for giving, but Better Business Bureau spokesman Dan Buchta warns Montanans to give wisely.

"Over this holiday window is when charities across the United States raise about one-third of the money that they will raise for the year, it comes during this holiday season," Buchta said. "So we are warning people that, whenever there is charity activity, there are also charity scams, these scammers have no bottom to what they will do and they will stoop very low."

Part of giving wisely is doing little background research on charities.

"It's real easy to create a legitimate sounding charity by just talking about the cause, so there might be the 'Cure for Cancer Fund' it might sound great, but it might not be a real charity," Buchta said. "The Better Business Bureau has a partner site, which is Give.org where you can go online and look up any charity and see if they are accredited and if they are accredited, that means they share their information with us, that they are transparent."

Buchta says to be skeptical of “Go Fund Me” accounts claiming to raise money for wildfire and hurricane victims and to never feel pressured to give immediately over the phone.

 

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